Is this the END? - CRANKY OLD GUY

"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,

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 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, now . . . . .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.

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 vigour, 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!!"

An Old Man's Poem

Crabbit_Old_Woman

From here hence; where to?

    "There is another ... not anything like a 'place', not an existence or a limbo; a holding/cleansing area, to prepare for an even further place afield. No, no!
  BUT there is somewhere 'ANOTHER', been known, retold in the tales of fairies, foretold, repeated in the stories of gospel, in the books of wisdom, shared at fire-sides with wide-eyed expectance

And the promise has been repeated, held forth, is reaffirmed, from time when Man could form thoughts. All spoke of such a "place"

If after all the wonders we have seen, the love, ecstasies, joys, fears, wonders & pain felt, the heart-piercing disappointments we've gone through; the tears we wept, the losses mourned, the anger ranted & raved against, the curses we swore, the roaring exuberances, the kisses we've blown;

 after all these & much more; you'd think, surely the One capable of

 all of these we've lived through, would He be less than He is, to tug the rug from beneath all of us & just say "the End"?

I don't really have proof BUT I don't believe He would !