- 3rd
- July
- 2011
The Old Grouchy Woman
What do you see, you, who takes care of me, what do you see?
When you look at me, what do you think?
An old grouchy woman, a bit crazy, with a lost gaze, who is not really there anymore
Who dribbles when she eats and never answer
Who, when you say loudly “try”
Seems to not care to what you are doing
And never stops to loose her shoes and her stockings.
Who, docile or not, let you act according to your wishes
The bath and the meals, to keep busy the long grey day
Is it what you think, is it what you see?
Then, open your eyes, this is not me.
I am going to tell you what I am, seating here, so calmly
Moving to your order, eating when you want
I am the last one of ten, with a father and a mother
With brothers and sisters who love each other.
A young sixteen years old girl, wings on my feet
Wishing that soon, she will meet a fiancé.
Married already, at twenty.
My heart bounces with joy to the memory of the vow i made that day.
I am twenty-five now, and a child of my own
Who needs me to build him a home.
A thirty years old woman, my child is growing up fast
We are bound together by bonds which will last.
Forty years old, soon he will not be here anymore
But my man is at my side, watching over me.
Fifty years old, again around me babies are playing
We are back with children, my beloved and I.
Darks days are coming, my husband dies
I am looking at the future trembling with fear
Because my children are all busy to raise their own
And i think about the years and the love i have known.
I am old now, and nature is cruel
Taking pleasure in making agedness be mistaken for madness.
My body is leaving, grace and strength are letting me down
And there is now a rock, where yesteryear i had a heart
But in this old carcass, the young lady remains
Whose old heart inflates without respite.
I recall the joy, I recall the sadness
And again i feel my life and i love.
I think back to the too short and too quick years that have passed
And accept this unremitting reality that nothing can last.
Open your eyes, you, who takes care of me, and take a look.
Take a better look, you will see me!
