Most information circulating the internet claim that it is a man that wrote this poem. However, I received the following from a Nursing Student.

This poem is beautiful but it has been changed! I am a nursing student and the original poem was in fact written by a WOMAN who lived in a nursing home in the United Kingdom. The original poem is well known amongst nursing students. The old lady died in the Geriatric Ward of Ashludie Hospital near Dundee, SCOTLAND. A copy of the poem was found in the ladies locker after she passed away. When one of the nurses moved to nursing geriatric patients in Briad Valley Hospital in Ireland, she took her copy with her and the poem appeared in a Christmas edition of the Beacon House News, the magazine for Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health. This is the original poem by the original author so please give the lady the credit she deserves.

“What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

Are you thinking, when you look at me…

A crabbit(Crabby) 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 move 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 a lover she’ll meet.

A bride soon at twenty – my heart gives a leap

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.

I’m twenty-five now, I have young of my own

Who need me to build a secure, happy home.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone.

But my man’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 husband is 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 an old woman now and nature is cruel

‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,

There is a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young girl 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 – all gone too fast

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see

Not a crabby old woman – look closer – SEE ME!”

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