Dr. Toni

In the words of T.S. Eliot:
…In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.–(East Coker, #2 of Four Quartets)

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North
Platte, Nebraska, 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 Missouri .

The old man’s sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the
Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for
Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple,
but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now
the author of this ‘anonymous’ poem winging across the Internet.

Crabby Old Man

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 . . . . . 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 . . .. . . 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!!