CRANKY OLD MAN

Cranky Old Man 

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing
home in an Australian country town, 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 Melbourne. The old man's
sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the
Christmas editions of magazines around the country and
appearing in magazines for Mental Health. A slide
presentation has also been made based on his simple,
but eloquent, poem.
And this old man, with nothing left to give to the
world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem
winging across the Internet.
Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A cranky 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 provide 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 is 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,
It's 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 man 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 and gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people, open and see.
Not a cranky 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!
Originally by Phyllis McCormack; adapted by Dave
Griffith
"The best and most beautiful things of this world can't
be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart!"