Alzheimer affects many. It goes beyond the person affected with the disease, it reaches out with sad angry pain to the families of the victim. Medical professionals try to explain it and ease the suffering and yet what it actually and always will remain is simply hearth wrenching. This poem is dedicated to all those who have felt Alzheimer's touch.
The Beauty to Others is my Sadness
Days on end in the early evening,
I see her sit on the deck
and look at the beauty.
The trees dance in the wind for her,
They dress in the finest of colors.
Rich russet oranges, fall like yellows and emerald green.
With each change of season,
They give to the beauty
Just for her to see.
Many hours she would stare,
at the beauty around her
Etching it in her memory.
I join her at times,
I talk and point out
The beauty around her.
She smiles
and speaks a few words,
So different from when I was a child.
Her once golden hair
Shines in shades of gray,
Her bright eyes of blue
show as a child lost and not understanding.
Her skin with wrinkles,
Does not tell her mind,
She is cold, as it turns blue with shivers.
I put a sweater around her,
And add a lap rug,
She looks at me almost knowing.
She turns back to the driveway,
Covered with leaves,
Not treaded upon by anyone.
She sits in waiting,
For something or someone, I sit waiting, hoping she might remember.
My heart silently cries,
For the beauty others see,
Is my sadness.
Alzheimer is her constant companion,
The only one allowed
Into her heart and mind.
I know she is in there,
I cannot reach her,
In another way, I know I have.
I am here,
To share with her,
The one thing she loved before.
The trees dance in the wind for her,
They dress in the finest of colors,
Rich russet oranges, fall like yellows and emerald green.
The one thing,
She loves now,
We sit in waiting.
My heart silently cries,
For the beauty others sees,
Is my sadness.
I gently pat her hand,
"I love you mother."
She still sits in waiting...
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