Wednesday 20 January 2016

Hello Dementia

Thoughts after a care home visit
    Hello Dementia
There, there.  What else can I say?
It will get better, now, or later, or some other day.
Time and place have slipped from reality’s grasp.
It doesn’t matter when and where we are –
Peace is all I ask.
My peace, of course, my comfort, and you try in brighter moments to comply.
You try to soothe me, though you can only wonder why.

And I – well I am learning as I sit in this plain place
Empty space
Bare of possibilities for misinterpretation,
Shorn of objects which may one day
Whisper love and on another hate.
I am learning that nothing is fixed.
There is no stability, no reality
Only a reflection in the mind’s eye
Distorted by the light,
Most of all by the might of truth
Which pretends to stand firm and square
But sits as do we all on shifting ground,
On a merry-go-round’s chair
That constantly alters perspective.
Though life may jump off to stand still and stare back
At our progress with contemptuous indifference,
With no care.

And I reach out to take your hand and kiss your cheek.
There, there.


Heather Gingele

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