Lyrical response from busy nurse

May 30 2008 by Our Correspondent, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE poem, A Crabby Old Woman, that I used last week hit the spot with many readers.

It told of an old lady’s thoughts as she lay in a hospital bed, reflecting on her life. The nurses looked at her as ancient and infirm but she had been young – like them – and had lived life to the full.

Although the poem has been around for years, its origins are unknown. Legend suggests it was found among the belongings of an old lady who died in a Dundee hospital in the 1970s.

Valerie Baillie says, “I first saw it in the Sunday Post, the Scottish newspaper my husband insists on getting. They attributed the poem to someone called Phyllis McCormack. They also printed a Nurse’s Reply by Liz Hogben.”

The opening lines of Crabby Old Woman are:

What do you see, nurse, what do you see? What are you thinking when you’re looking at me?

Here is A Nurse’s Reply:

What do we see, you ask, what do we see?

Yes, we are thinking when looking at thee.

We may seem to be hard when we hurry and fuss,

But there's many of you, and too few of us.

We would like far more time to sit by you and talk,

To bathe you and feed you and help you to walk,

To hear of your lives and the things you have done;

Your childhood, your husband, your daughter or son.

But time is against us, there's too much to do,

patients too many and nurses too few.

We grieve when we see you so sad and alone,

With nobody near you, no friends of your own.

We feel all your pain and we know of your fear

That nobody cares now your end is so near.

But nurses are people with feelings as well

And when we're together you'll often hear tell

Of the dearest old Gran in the very end bed,

and the lovely old Dad, and the things that he said.

We speak with compassion and love and feel sad

When we think of your lives and the joy that you've had.

When the time has arrived for you to depart,

You leave us behind with an ache in our heart.

When you sleep the long sleep, no more worry or care,

There are other old people and we must be there.

So please understand if we hurry and fuss.

There are many of you and too few of us.