When an old man ( Archived) (3)

died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near
Tampa,
Florida, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they
found
this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies
were made
and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Missouri. The old man's sole bequest to
posterity has
since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St
Louis
Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made
based on
his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now
the
author of this "anonymous" poem winging across the Internet:


Crabby Old Man

What do you see, nurses......... What do you see?
What are you thinking...............When you're looking at me?
A crabby old man .................. Not very wise, Uncertain of habit,
................. With faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food............... And makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice,...."I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice .......... The things that you do, And forever
is losing
................ A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not, .............. Lets you do as you will, With
bathing and
feeding, ........ The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? ......Is that what you see?
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 boy of sixteen .............With wings on his feet Dreaming
that
soon
now. ..........A lover he'll meet.
A groom 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 man 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
woman's
beside me......To see I don't mourn At fifty once more,
...................
Babies play 'round my knee, Again we know children, ......... My loved
one and
me.
Dark days are upon me, .......... My wife 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 man................... 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 guy 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, people,........ Open and see, Not a crabby old man;
.............. Look closer.... see, ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might
brush aside
without looking at the young soul within.....we will all, one day, be
there,
too!
Something for the soul,Kat

Hi Kat,

WELL DONE!