Dementia

I’m staring through a glass window

And the person I love most in all the world is on the other side of it

The woman who was always there for me, who loved me, who dried my tears and held my hair back for me while I threw up

Who cleaned up my messes and drove me around and played with me every day

Who taught me to read, to sing, to love God’s Word

Who helped me find my way in the world

Is lost in a maze just beyond it

And I can see her there, trapped, lost

Alone, bored, not knowing where she is,

Confused, afraid, dependent, helpless, upset

Getting farther and farther away

And I can talk to her but my words don’t get through

I can’t get her out of that maze

And at every turn she is farther away

Every time I look she is farther away