<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What follows was provided courtesy of Cheryl Halverson via Facebook.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-------------------------------------</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left; "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Later, when t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; ">he nurses were going through his meagre possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.</span></div></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; text-align: left; "><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.</div></font><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.</div></font><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Cranky Old Man</div></font><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.</div></font><font style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.</div></font><font><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; ">I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left; "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.</div></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left; "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.</div></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left; "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Not a cranky old man .</div></span><span style="text-align: left; "><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">-------------------------------------</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Thanks, Cheryl, for reminding us.</span></div></span></div></font></span><br><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">"Moscow Cares"</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "> </div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div></body></html>