Please does anyone know of two poems, one is about Old Age and the other is about death?

Question

I remember these on ward notice boards but never knew who had written them. The first one has a line it "who do you see when you look at me" and is an old woman remembering her life. The second one says "I did not die " and something about being in another room. These are for a very dear friend who's wife of 62yrs died recently, we would both be very grateful.

Answer 1

Do not stand by my grave and weep is an anonoymous work . O was left in an evenlope by Steven Cummins a soldeir killed in service in Northern Ireland. I think this is an uplifting poem which may help

Answer 2

The one about the room
Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always did at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Pray,smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it. It is the same as it ever was; there is an unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because Iam out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.

Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St Pauls Cathedral

Answer 3

An Old Lady's Poem

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!!
Remember this poem when you next meet an old
person who you might see.
~Unknown Author~

Answer 4

Spring always comes with new life and birth
Followed by summer to warm the soft earth —
And what a comfort to know there are reasons
That souls, like nature, must have their seasons


i love this one x

Answer 5

I could find the second poem, not the first. I am very sorry for your friend's loss.

Here is a poem you didn't ask for, but may provide comfort.
They who are near to me do not know that you are nearer to me than they are,
They who speak to me do not kow that my heart is full with your unspoken words,
They who love me do not know that their love brings you to my heart
They who crowd my path do not know I am walking alone with you... Rabindranath Tagore


Do not stand at my grave and weep.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
(Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!
Mary Frye (1932)

I couldn't find the first.