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Very moving! I am sitting here crying after reading this. I removed the NON PD from the subject as this is a powerful message that all need to read. I'm thinking of printing it up nicely, framing it and sending it to the nursing home where my mother is now confined. Do you know the author so proper credit can be given or permission obtained? > ---------- > From: Bernard Shaw[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Friday, September 24, 1999 7:20 AM > Subject: Non PD > > Found while searching web made a deep impression Bern. > > > Crabbit Old Woman > > What do you see nurse, what do you see? > What are you thinking, when you look at me? > A crabbit old woman, not very wise, > Uncertain of habit, with far away eyes, > Who dribbles her food, and makes not reply, > When you say in a loud voice,"I do wish you would try!" > > Who seems not to notice the things that you do, > And forever is losing a stocking or shoe. > Who, unresisting or not, lets you do as your 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 , you're not looking at me. > > I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, > As I move at 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 at sixteen with wings at 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 now soon will be gone, > But my man stands beside me to see I don't mourn. > At fifty once more babies play around 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 busy rearing young of their own > And I think of the years and the love I have known. > > I'm an old lady now and nature is cruel, > 'Tis her jest to make old age look a fool? > The body it crumbles, grace and vigor depart, > And now there is a stone, where I once had a heart. > But inside this old carcass, a young still dwells, > And now and again my battered heart swells. > I remember the joys, I remember the pain, > And I am loving and living life over again. > I think of the years all too few, gone so fast > And accept the stark fact that nothing can last. > So open your eyes, nurse, open and see, > Not a crabbit old woman, look closer, see ME. >