What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
\nWhat are you thinking when you’re looking at me?
\nA crabby old woman, not very wise,
\nUncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
\nWho dribbles her food and makes no reply””
\nWho seems not to notice the things that you do,
\nAnd forever is losing a stocking or shoe….
\nWho, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
\nWith bathing and feeding, the long day to fill….
\nThen open your eyes, nurse; you’re not looking at me.
\nI’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
\nAs I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
\nI’m a small child of ten…with a father ! and mother,
\nBrothers and sisters, who love one another.
\nA young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
\nDreaming that soon now a lover she’ll meet.
\nA bride soon at twenty–my heart gives a leap,
\nRemembering the vows that I promised to keep.
\nAt twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
\nWho need me to guide and a secure happy home.
\nA woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
\nBound to each other with ties that should last.
\nAt forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
\nBut my man’s beside me to see I don’t mourn.
\nAt fifty once more, babies play around my knee,
\nAgain we know children, my loved one and me.
\nDark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
\nI look at the future, I shudder with dread.
\nFor my young are all rearing young of their own,
\nAnd I think of the years and the love that I’ve known.
\nI’m now an old woman….and nature is cruel;
\nTis jest to make old age look like a fool.
\nThe body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
\nThere is now a stone where I once had a heart.
\nBut inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
\nAnd now and again my battered heart swells.
\nI remember the joys, I remember the pain,
\nAnd I’m loving and living life over again.
\nI think of the years….all too few, gone too fast,
\nAnd accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
\nSo open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
\n…Not a crabby old woman; look closer…see ME!!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do you see, nurses, what do you see? What are you thinking when you’re looking at me? A crabby old woman, not very wise, Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes? Who dribbles her food and makes no reply”” Who seems not to notice the things that you do, And forever is losing a stocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[35,58],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration-2","tag-inspiration","tag-inspirational-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}