#2 The Pain in Words
"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been." This was written by John Greenleaf Whittier but completely fits in this situation too. The one who learns how to play with the words learns how to live this life beautifully. Mak Filiser is surely one of them.
Mak Filiser lived in a Nuring home for old people away from his 'So Called Real Family'. Today, he is no more but he has left something behind that has made him immortal forever.
Mak Filiser
Mak Filiser was so unfortunate that he died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home, the nurses believed that he left nothing behind of any real value. Surely, they didn't know the truth back then.
While cleaning his room after his death, one of the nurses noticed a poetry written by him. After reading it, she was so floored by his words that she ended up making copies of it and sharing with every employee at the nursing home.
I wish I could write as beautifully as Mak.
Read the poem ahead...
The Poem
The name of the poem is "Cranky Old Man" and this poem is priceless. Here's the poem...
What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking...when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man...not very wise,
Uncertain of habit...with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his 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 sock 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,
I'm a small child of Ten...with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters...who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen...with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now...a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty...my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows...that I promised to keep
At Twenty-Five, no...I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide...And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty...My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other...With ties that should last.
Check out the rest of the poem ahead...
#1 The Complete Poem
Here comes the rest of the poem...
As I do at your bidding...as I eat at your will.
At Forty, my young sons...have grown and are gone,
But my woman is 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 wife is now 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 man...and nature is cruel.
It's 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 man 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, people...open and see.
Not a cranky old man.
Look closer...see...ME!!
Now isn't this beautiful? His words have made him immortal.
