The following poem was sent to me with the title of “Crabby Old Man” and was supposedly written by a dying old man in a nursing home. After a little investigation I learned that the poem was lifted from the real author’s web site and circulated with a heart warming but false story.
Even so, I wanted to share the poem which should help us to see the youth that still lives within each aged person. Maybe this can help all to look beyond effects of time on our lives, and touch the beauty of the life within.
Too Soon Old
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 now 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 . . . . . . . . . . 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!!
Written by Dave Griffith of Fort Worth, Texas
Click on Dave Griffith above to go to the web site to see the original poem he composed.
Just wondering… if you were a sculptor, and you worked in your basement, would people think of you as a low-down chiseler?
When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.
— Yogi Berra
Joke of the Day
A Redneck buys a ticket and wins the lottery. He goes to
Nashville to claim it where the man verifies his ticket number. The Redneck says "I want my $20 million."
To which the man replied, "No, sir. It doesn't work that way. We give you a million today, and then you'll get the rest spread out for the next 19 years."
The Redneck said, "Oh, no. I want all my money RIGHT
now! I won it, and I want it."
Again the man patiently explains that he would only get a million that day and the rest during the next 19 years.
The Redneck, furious with the man, screams out, "Look, I WANT MY MONEY!! If you're not going to give me my $20 million "right now," THEN I WANT MY DOLLAR BACK!!
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