This is completely unrelated to foreign bodies or our book. It is related to every one of us, so I will post it here. Many of you have read it before. Many have read it once and may not have really READ it. So this time read it twice. Remember it when you are interacting with someone older than you. Remember, that person was once your age…
See Me (Author Unknown)
What do you see, nurses what do you see?
Are you thinking, when you look at me-
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice – “I do wish you’d try.”
Is what you’re thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you’re looking at ME…
I’ll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still;
As I rise 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 build a secure, happy home;
A woman of thirty, my young now grow 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 an old woman now and nature is cruel-
‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
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, nurses – see ME!
