An Old Lady's Poem

What do you see, nurses, what do you
see?

What are you thinking when you're
looking at me?

A crabby old woman, not very wise, uncertain of habit, with faraway
eyes?

Who dribbles her food and makes no
reply.

Who seems not to notice the things
that you do, and forever is losing a stocking or
shoe.

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as
you will, with bathing and feeding, the long
day to fill.

Then open your eyes, nurse, you're
not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here
so still, as I do at your bidding, as I 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 soon 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 now, I have young of
my own, who need me to guide and a secure
happy home.

A woman of thirty, my young now grown
fast, bound to each other with ties that
should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown
and are gone, but my man's 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 is
dead; I look at the future, I shudder with
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 now an old woman, and nature
is cruel; tis jest to make old age look like a
fool.

The body, it crumbles, grace and
vigor depart, there is now a stone where I once had
a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young
girl still dwells, and now and again my battered heart
swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the
pain, and I'm loving and living life over
again.

I think of the years....all too few,
gone too fast, and accept the stark fact that
nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and
see, not a crabby old woman; look
closer......see ME!!

~ Author Unknown