When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was felt that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. It’s 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. And now this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this simple, yet eloquent, poem, each of you are reading today. It goes to show that we all can leave something of great value, greater than wealth.
What Do You See?
“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 is forever 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 your bidding,
As I eat at your will.
I am 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 secure a 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 is beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play around 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
And shudder with dread.
For my young are all
Rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years
And the love that I have 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.
Remember this poem when you next meet an old person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul inside. We will be there one day too. Dennis Stack
