Nan — I Am Fine, Thank You

I’m at the time and place where I’m keenly interested in rummaging through the evidence of my family’s past times and places. Today, while looking for a letter I knew was in my maternal grandmother’s things (my Nan), I found a poem she’d written called I Am Fine, Thank You.

And here it is.

I Am Fine, Thank You.

There is nothing the matter with me,

I’m so healthy as I can be;

I have arthritis in both of my knees

And when I talk, I talk with a wheeze,

My pulse is weak and my blood is thin,

But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in.

Arch supports I have for my feet

Or I wouldn’t be able to walk in the street;

Sleep has defied me, night after night,

But every morning I find I’m alright;

My memory is failing, my head in a spin,

But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in.

The moral is this, as this tale I unfold,

That for you and me who are getting old,

It’s better to say “I’m fine” with a grin

Than to let folks know the shape we are in.

How do I know my youth is all spent?

Well, my “get up and go” has got up and went.

But I really don’t mind when I think with a grin,

Of all the good places my “get up” has been.

Old age is golden, I heard it said,

But sometimes I wonder as I get into bed,

With my ears in the drawer, my teeth in a cup,

My eyes on the table until I wake up.

When sleep comes o’er me, I say to myself

Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?

When I was young my slippers were red

I could kick my heels over my head

But when I grew older my slippers were blue

And still I could dance the whole night through.

Now, when I’m old, my slippers are black,

I walk to the store and puff my way back.

I get up each morning and dust off my wits,

Pick up the paper and read the “obits”-

If my name is still missing, I know I’m not dead,

So I get a good breakfast and go back to bed.