Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Real masterpiece!

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was believed that she had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through her 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 Ireland.
The old lady's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health.

A slide presentation has also been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem.
And this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this "anonymous" poem winging across the Internet:


Crabby Old Woman

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.
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 stocking 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 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 round 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, people, ......Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; .........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!


PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM. IT'S SOMETHING WE ALL NEED TO READ.

27 comments:

Prasanna Parameswaran said...

very nice poem preeta! thanks for sharing it! its so true that all us do get old one day and people seldom realize the pains that the elders go through! Thank you once again!

Neer said...

oh my god!! this is so touching!!

Usha said...

Poignant. Thanks for sharing. passing it around.

srijithunni said...

Thought Provoking, beautiful lines..
The sadness and the caring, with which the ladu has written those lines, is so touching like neers said above..

Thanks for sharing, hip Grandma..!

With Best Regards,
Srijith Unni.

passerby55 said...

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

bitter truth, we all have to face one day.

Preeta, thankyou for posting this.

Shini said...

Hip grandma! This peice touches the heart - & its a fact, but wonder how many ppl think of taking care of their own parents - let alone other senior citizens...

Itchingtowrite said...

as a kid i used to find it hard to imagine my grannies as young girls. I imagine them in black & white even now. wonder how our grand kids will think of...

Artnavy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Artnavy said...

While I care for the elderly, I often feel I shld not live that long.

Anonymous said...

HHG,
Please share a few lines of your real experiences. They are far more interesting than pageful of idealistic copy-pastes :)

starry said...

Thanks for sharing this touching poem.It brought tears to my eyes. how often we look at old people and just see an old person, not a person who was young and spirited.will surely make one look at a old person in another light.thank you.

Kalpana said...

really, a great one.....

Hip Grandma said...

Hi all,
These are lines that are universally applicable to each one of us.Let us all pledge to treat our old people with the dignity they deserve.They have a lifetime of experiences to enrich our lives and we'd be fools not to gain by them.

Balaji said...

I have a tear in my eye right now. That says it all.

The Visitor said...

Lovely g'ma. That touches a chord.

hillgrandmom said...

yes, just remember there is a person there behind even seeming vacant eyes and more so when it's a family member!

Anonymous said...

Brought tears to my eyes,thankyou for sharing it with us all.

http://aalapana.blogspot.com

Vidhya Rajesh said...

Thanks for sharing. this is so wonderful.

Ankit said...

nice poem!!!!
THis poem made me realize u are not all HIP -HOP some wisdom is also there

Anonymous said...

I repeat,it's touchy..
thanks for sharing wid us!

Has to be me said...

Oopsy...thats damn touchy. But a lovely one. Thanx fr sharing.

Inder said...

wow...
wow...
awesome...
wow...

Hip Grandma said...

Hi all,
I see that the poem has struck a vital chord in your hearts and i am not at all surprised.Despite all the so called giant leaps for mankind man remains the same.First he is a huMAN then only he is a MAN.My trust in humanity and faith in goodness is only reiterated.Thanks a million.I see that some new readers have taken the trouble to respond.Thank you each one.

Movie Mazaa said...

perhaps, words wud never get toe xpress what i felt after going thru this one!!

thx! thx a whole lot!
:)

hillgrandmom said...

hhgrandmom, I just wrote a post on old people after reading this post.

Monika said...

how did i miss it before? i guess u posted it when i was off for a vacation... i am glad i came back again and went thru ur blog. this one is really touching... made me cry... the message is really passed across with loads of emotions...

Anonymous said...

Choked with emotion