Excellent Advice

Sometimes this summer when I ask where an out-of-town visitor is off to, I get  "Same as I said this morning, I'm having lunch with my old friend ___." 
Frankly, I could do without the "as I already told you".  So I was pleased to find this poem, which suggests you respond "not impatiently, but with gentle calm."  And as this is supposed to be a blog about Old Ladies, I'm forwarding it to you.  We can assume it had even more resonance before being translated.  We knew the man was an artist, played piano, and authored a best-seller but did you know he was also a poet?  A real Renaissance man...

            The Mother

When your mother has grown older,
When her dear, faithful eyes
no longer see life as they once did,
When her feet, grown tired,
No longer want to carry her as she walks –
Then lend her your arm in support,
Escort her with happy pleasure.

The hour will come when, weeping, you
Must accompany her on her final walk.

And if she asks you something,
Then give her an answer.
And if she asks again, then speak!
 And if she asks yet again, respond to her,
Not impatiently, but with gentle calm.
And if she cannot understand you properly
Explain all to her happily.

The hour will come, the bitter hour,
When her mouth asks for nothing more.

               --Adolph Hitler, 1923