This is real long overdue! it was so touching, i wanted to cry!

A young girl still dwells
by a woman who died in the old folks ward of Ashludie Hospital near Dundee, England


what do you see, nurse, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you look at me-
A crabbed old woman. not very wise
Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say im a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try"
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 looking at me
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still
As I move at your bidding, eat as your will...

I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,
brothers and sisters who love one another
A bride at twenty, my heart gives a leap
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep
A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast
Bound together with ties that should last
At forty, my young sons have grown up and gone,
But my man is beside me to see that I don't mourn
At fifty, once more babies play round my knee,
Again, we know children, my loved ones and me.
Dark days are upon me; my husband is dead.
I look at the future, and shudder with dread
I'm an old woman now, and nature is cruel
Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells
And now again, my embittered heart swells
I think of the years, all too few, gone so fast
And I accept the stark fact that nothing can last

So open your eyes, nurse, open and see
Not a crabbed old woman,
Look closer- see me!