What do you see, O what do you see?
Are you thinking when you see me,
"A crabby old woman," not wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food, and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice 'I wish you try...'
Who seems not to notice the thing that you do;
And forever is losing an eyeglass or a shoe?
Who, unresisting or not, lets you do anything as you will,
Is that what you're thinking; Is that what you see in me?
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 ten, with a great loving mother,
But without a father: he was dead in the battle,
No brothers nor sisters who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon a college degree she'll finish,
A bride soon at twenty four my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own
Who needs me to build a secure, happy home,
A woman of forty, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At fifty, my young sons have grown and gone,
But my husband is beside me to see I don't maim.
At sixty, 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 I have known.
I'm an old woman now, and nature is cruel.
It is her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles; grace and vigor depart.
There is now stone where once had a heart.
But inside of this old carcass , a young girl still dwells.
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys; I remember the pains
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 will last.
