Jean Sheridan

Jean Sheridan Poems

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?
...

The message about sunscreen
Makes us all feel glum
It seems we need to worry
When we go out in the sun
...

Holidays are such fun
So much to do for everyone
A cliff to climb a sea to surf
A game of golf upon the turf
...

When the sun came out, we’d be gone
To Camber Sands – Me, Mum, Dad and John
Sandwiches packed and flasks that were filled
With tea that tasted like pig swill
...

Summer 2007


Clouds full of rain, day after day
...

The house looks much cleaner
The dust is not there
No stains on the sink
And no bits of hair
...

Jean Sheridan Biography

I was born in Bermondsey just after the war. I went to grammar school. I left at 17 and went to work for LLoyds Bank in Lombard Street. I married at 21 and had two sons before returning to work as a secretary. I am now retired. My husband works in the travel industry, so I am fairly well travelled. He still works part-time as a Tour Manager.)

The Best Poem Of Jean Sheridan

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 still 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, nurses, open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; look closer.see ME! ! ....

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