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This was a poem I have had for at least 20 yrs it was given to me all that time ago, and when I was In charge of the Elderly Old Peoples Home I read this poem to all new staff I hope you like it.
colin vec2

THE CRABBIT OLD WOMANS POEM


What do you see nurses .what do you see?
Are you thinking when looking at me
A crabbit old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes,
Who dribbles her food, and makes no reply
When you say in loud voices “I do wish you’d try”
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing a stocking and shoe
Who unresisting or not, lets you do has you will
With bathing and feeding the long day to fill
Is that what you are thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes nurse you are not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am has I sit here so still
As I use at your bidding, and eat at your will
I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother
Brothers and sisters who love one another
A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet
Dreaming that now a lover she’ll meet
A bride soon at twenty- my heart gives a leap
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep
At twenty five I have young of my own
Who need me to build a secure happy home

A woman at thirty, my young now grow fast
Bound to each other with ties that should last
At forty my young sons have grown and gone
But my man his beside me to see I don’t mourn
At fifty once more babies play around my knee
Again we know children my loved one and me
Dark days are upon me my husband his dead
I look at the future I shudder and dread
For my young are all rearing young of their own
And I think of the years, and the love that I’ve known


 I’m an old woman now and nature is cruel
Ti’s her jest to make old age look like a fool
The body is crumbles grace an vigour depart
There is now a stone where I once had a heart
But inside this old carcase a young girl still dwells
And now and again my battered heart swells
I remember the joy I remember the pain
And I’m loving and life over again
I think of the years all toofew- gone to fast
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last
So open your eyes nurses open and see
Not a crabbit old woman look closer see me.

I remember reading a poem quite similiar to that, vec2.  It has stayed with me for years, now.  So true that some seldom look past the outward appearances.  We know that GOD looks on the heart.  We should all strive to see as He sees. Thank you for sharing this poem with us.   Jane

Thank you Vec 2 very heart wrenching;

Yes I have a copy of this in my snippets box. Someone gave it to me when my mummy was ill.

We have a large nursing home nearby and some of the patients are wheeled into our park by their dear ones.  Some have altzeimers and I often think how their minds perhaps go back to the past and they re-live happier times. Indeed I find myself returning to happy moments in my own life just lately.

Nature can be very cruel especially to those who have no-one left to visit them.

Thanks for sharing. Vec.