“Fading Light” - Dementia
January 8, 2025
How handsome, deft and strong you were in daring youth.
How clear and clever you thought and ably spoke.
You walked with grace and poise amidst all other folk;
Your person brought a sense of thoughtful, stolid truth.
But time has delivered a most unwelcome guest,
Who slowly breaks your mind and cracks the soul;
Where memories default and logic grasps a loosening hold,
As tiny plaques invade your brain for reasons barely guessed?
Blazing fires become embers and embers become ashes;
Hollow sadness and aching recall of joyful times past.
Confused look and vacant stare that linger on and last;
Fading light in gathering darkness … rare, reminiscent flashes.
Is this how it ends and how you leave?
Stricken by protracted illness, deftly mutilated, tragically broken?
For those who remember and remain there is little spoken;
But a tired, exhausted, jaded way to grieve.
Chris Dennis (December 2024)