A Crabby Old Man

Opal Louise Morris... Thank you for sharing this with me...M
A crabby old man
>
> When an old man 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!
>
>
> PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM