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 far away eyes...
Who dribbles his food...and makes no reply...
When you say i 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...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 your bidding...As I eat at your will...
I'm a small child of 10...With father and mother...
Brothers and sisters...who love one another...
A young boy of 16...with wings on his feet...
Dreaming that soon now...a lover he'll meet...
A groom soon at 20...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 guide...and secure a happy home...
A man of 30...my young now grown fast...
Bound to each other...With ties that should last...
At 40, my young sons...have grown and are gone...
But my woman is beside me...to see I don't mourn...
At 50, once more...babies play at 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 I have 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, vigour, depart...
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 all 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 cranky old man...
Look closer...see...ME!!

Originally by Phyllis McCormack
Adapted by Dave Griffith
Shared on FaceBook

Found among the property of an old man 
who had just died in a nursing home...

The best and most beautiful things
Can't be seen or touched...
They must be felt by the heart...