Crabby Old Man

An elderly man wrote this in the hospital before he died....
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 a 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 now dead.

I look at  the future . . . . . 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.

Its 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!!