THIS IS A RATHER LONG POEM BUT IT HAS TO TOUCH ALL OUR HEARTS, PLEASE READ.


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