Kate
What do you see nurse
What do you see?
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 no reply,
When you say in a loud voice
'i do whish you'd try'
Who seems not to notice
the things that you do,
and forever is losing
a stocking or a shoe,
Who unresisting or not
lets you do as you will
with bathing and feeding
the long day you fill,
Is that what you are thinking,
is that what you see?
Then open your eyes nurse,
your not looking at me.
Ill tell you who I am
as I sit so still,
I'm a small child of ten
with a father of 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 brised soon at twenty,
my heart gives a leap,
remembering the vows
that i promised to keep;
At 25 now
I have young of my own
Who need me to build
a secure happy home.
A young woman of 30
my young grown fast,
Bound to each other
with ties that should last;
At 40 my young ones
now grown will soon be gone,
But my man stays beside me
to see i dont mourn;
At 50 once more
babies play round my knee,
again we know children
my loved one and me,
my husband is dead,
I look to the future
I shudder with dread,
For all my young are busy
rearing ypung of their own,
I think of the years
and the love I have known.
Im an old woman now
and nature is cruel,
'Tis her jest to make #old age look like a fool.
The body crumbles,
Grave vigour depart,
There now is a stone
where once i had a heart;
But inside this old carcase
a young girl still dwells,
and now and again
my battered heart swells,
I remember the joys
I remember the pain
And im 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 crabbit old woman
look closer... see me
Kate the writer of this poem was unable to speak, but was occasionally seen to write. After her death, her locker was emptied and this peom was found.
I hope this may cahnge someones idea of aged care. I know for one it made me review my opinions. I still dont think it will be my speciatlity but i feel i can learn alot...