What would a nurse find in your locker ?
_________________
Kate
[A poem about humanity]

What do you see nurses
What do you see?
Are you thinking
when you are looking 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 wish you'd 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 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 use 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 girl of sixteen
with wings on 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 young woman of thirty
my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other
with ties that should last:
At forty my young ones
now grown will soon be gone,
But my man stays 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 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 woman now
and nature is cruel,
'I' is her jest to make
old age look like a fool.
The body it crumbles,
grace and 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 hearth swells,
I remember the joys,
I remember the pain,
And I'm moving 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

________________________________________
Note
Kate, the writer of this poem, was unable to speak, but was occasionally seen to write.
After her death, her hospital locker was emptied and this poem was found.

Mountain ash

My God..is this almost me???? It surely is my mother right now.

Kate and MountainAsh..you speak to to my heart of hearts..as you so often do, MountainAsh.

Thank you, Kate!

Thank you, MountainAsh!

Wow. That's all I can say.

MA, this poem brought tears to my eyes. It is so very true, and beautifully put. Amazing that Kate couldn't speak, but still write like that.

This is so true, so true. As I watch a loved one and all the other residents in an Alzheimer's home, I dare any of the employees to treat them without resect, though I know it happens. This is why it's so important for caregivers to reminisce with the elderly. It allows them to get to know the patients as a person and not another person to care for.

I used to visit retirement homes with our pastor. We'd do a little Bible study and then there was always a topic to discuss which allowed them to reminisce about the good old days. Talk about come alive. They loved that part of the visit, and so did I. It was great fun to her about the days when they did the very things I've spent my days doing.

Thanks for sharing this. It's beautiful.

Yes Dotsie
I dare them too.

Anne, Oh gosh…you got me there. I haven't read any books from Carlos Castaneda. I actually copied that quote from a diet article. But now you got me curious. I think I know what my next book will be. Which one of his books would you recommend?