What does this make you feel about the woman?
For me, I feel kind of sorry for her in one way; in the other way, I feel she is a work of art and has finally reached her right to sleep in everyday as long as she pleases........

* Look Closer...See ME!! *

When an elderly lady died in a small hospital in
Scotland, the nurse on duty begun to put her few
remaining possessions into a box when she came
across a 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 Ireland where it appreared in the Christmas
edition of the North Ireland Association for
Mental Helath.

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
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, 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 girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride 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 woman 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 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 now an old woman ...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 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, 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!!

~ Author Unknown ~

I'm sure that with the routine of circulations and the constant feedings/bathings/clean-ups/dressing/etc. it's easy for RNs and CNAs to stop thinking of patients as real people with real lives, stories, dreams and disappointments. We must all remember to never do this!