"Crabbit ", also variously titled "Anyone called Derek",[1] "Look Closer Nurse", "Kate", "Open Your Eyes" or "What Do You See?", is a poem written in 1966 by Phyllis McCormack, then working as a nurse in Sunnyside Hospital, Montrose. The poem is written in the voice of an old woman in a nursing home who is reflecting upon her life. Crabbit is Scots for "bad-tempered" or "grumpy".
The poem appeared in the Nursing Mirror in December 1972 without attribution. Phyllis McCormack explained in a letter to the journal that she wrote the poem in 1966 for her hospital newsletter.
This story was corroborated by an article from the Daily Mail on 12 March 1998, where Phyllis McCormack's son wrote that his mother composed it in the 1960s, when she submitted it anonymously with the title "Look Closer Nurse" to a small magazine intended just for Sunnyside.
The next year, the poem was published in Chris Searle's poetry anthology Elders (Reality Press, 1973), without title or attribution. Subsequently, a wealth of urban legend has sprung up surrounding this humble work. Most of the legend associated with this poem attributes it to a senile elderly woman in a Dundee nursing home (or sometimes an Irish nursing home), where a nurse found it while packing her belongings following her death.[5] Searle himself was quoted in 1998 as saying of the poem's authorship: "I don't think we'll ever know. I accepted it as authentic." (i.e. as the authentic writing of an infirm old woman).[2]
The poem, which paints a rather sad picture of a decrepit woman's final days in care, has been quoted in various works written for and about the caring professions in order to highlight the importance of maintaining the dignity of the lives of elderly patients. It is also included in the Edexcel IGCSE English Literature poetry anthology.
Several variants exist including, "A Nurse's Reply" and "Cranky Old Man". Suggestions this is actually "Too Soon Old" by David L Griffith http://www.spotlightdavid.com/TooSoonOld.html Copyright given as © 1969-1986-1994-2001-2010
Here is the poem enjoy
What do you see, nurse, what do you see,
what are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabbit 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 use 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 vigour 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, nurse, open and see,
not a crabbit old woman; look closer - see ME!!
The Sunday Post first discovered the poem “The Cranky Old Man” more than 40 years ago.
It’s the Facebook phenomenon seen by millions around the world.
But today we reveal the remarkable true story behind “The Cranky Old Man” poem and the role The Sunday Post played in bringing the touching rhyme to the world.
Many readers will be familiar with the verse after it swept the internet in recent weeks.
The latest version claims to have originated in Australia. But the truth is it was written by a nurse in a Scots geriatric hospital and shot to prominence after being printed in The Post more than 40 years ago.
The deeply moving poem is a plea by an elderly patient to a nurse.
It urges the carer to see beyond the frail and confused old person before them and to consider the life they’ve lived, full of hopes and dreams, triumphs and tragedies.
The version of its origin doing the global rounds on online social networking sites claims the poem was left behind by an old man who died in a nursing home in a rural Australian town.
The story goes that the elderly gent passed away leaving nothing of value. While clearing possessions from his locker, staff came across the work on a scrap of paper.
They were so impressed they had copies made, and thus the poem gradually came to the world’s attention. It’s a nice story but completely false.
The original poem was called Look Closer and was about a crabbit old woman obviously for an international audience the guid Scots word “crabbit” had to go. It was written by a Montrose nurse, Phyllis McCormack, in 1966.
The work was brought to the attention of the Post in 1973, when a copy was found in the possession of an old woman who died in a geriatric hospital.
The poem caused a sensation when published. In those pre-internet days we were inundated with requests for copies.
We had thousands printed, which were given away free to those who wrote in. Requests kept coming for decades!
We re-printed the work in 1980, when we told how an American company was considering making a film based on the poem in connection with an elderly care scheme being set up by then President Jimmy Carter.
It’s believed this leap across the Atlantic is when “crabbit” became “cranky” and, for some reason, the old woman became a man.
How our Australian cousins got in on the act is anyone’s guess.
So next time the Cranky Old Man poem arrives in your inbox, by all means “like” and re-post it but make sure you tell everyone the real story behind the verse!