The
Sunday Scribblings prompt is "stranger". This is a poem I wrote several years ago, but I have not posted it previously on this blog. I think that being a stranger to both one self and the one most loved would be the ultimate estrangement.
LOST IN TIME
Should I forget my name
and yours--
and shuffle, groping, speechless
through corridors half seen,
my search will not be aimless
nor my mind quite empty.
My toothless cry
will be your forgotten name.
My blind scan of each face
will seek the features that are yours.
Deaf ears will listen for your voice.
Driving my shambling steps will be
an ache of longing,
encompassing, intense,
for an essence that is you
and for your arms that held me close
so long ago...
...or was it yesterday?
29 comments:
This one brought tears to my eyes.
xo
It is something that I worry about. Lets hope it doesn't happen to you or me!
Very poignant!
Sadly too many families are dealing with a loved one who no longer remembers. This poem is spot on.
this brought back to mind the moving book-
the notebook.
It is so sad that so many are living this existence.
touching poem Gran! xo
What a sad piece. It's a subject I don't think I could write about. So moving.
So near yet so far. You put it marvellously, as usual.
Wow. That pulled at the heart strings.
This took me right back to when my grndmother was in a nursing home suffering from dementia. She'd ask me if I'd seen Pete, her husband, who'd been dead for 10 years. She'd say, "I'm gonna kick his ass when I find him." Before her illness, she never would have even said the word "ass." It would almost have been funny if it hadn't been so sad.
This took me right back to when my grndmother was in a nursing home suffering from dementia. She'd ask me if I'd seen Pete, her husband, who'd been dead for 10 years. She'd say, "I'm gonna kick his ass when I find him." Before her illness, she never would have even said the word "ass." It would almost have been funny if it hadn't been so sad.
This took my breath away. I think you've perfectly expressed the fears of nearly everyone I know and the reality that too many of us are dealing with. It's heartbreaking. Your poem, though, is heartbreakingly beautiful.
so sad....but very well written. :)
My Dad died from Alzheimers disease, so of course I worry about this issue. ..everytime I can't remember something. What a poem!
Enjoyed visiting your blog today!
Blessings, peace, and all that is good
Oh, ouch! Poignancy overload! which means you have stuck a nerve, which means you have drilled to the core of humanity, which means you have written something supreme. So, again, ouch :-)
missalister
Oh, my, oh! This is so touching, heartbreaking and poignant. Wonderful work!
Oh Granny that is so sad.
It reminds me of some of my old darlings who had dementia in Junee hospital where I used to work. My Mum ,who lives with us drives us crazy most of the time,turns 87 today and has some dementia but is nowhere near that stage thank God.
This poem was Sad and lovely at the same time . Not knowing who you are , or forgetting chunks of our life is a scary thought !
This made me think of my Granny, 96 with Alzheimer's and currently in a care home, no idea what day it is or where she is half the time. She repeatedly says "true, true" to herself, which I believe was something my Grandfather, who died many years ago, used to say. While she still had enough of her faculties left she used to say to me "Don't get old". It is very sad and frustrating for all involved.
A love-poem of a very meaningful kind. We all know them, the seemingly unaware in nursing-homes. Let's hope this sort of awareness still lingers.
Wow! What a beautiful love poem! It just makes me want to go hug somebody.
Granny Smith: Like Jason Bourne, whose amnesia could erase his mind's memory, but not his body's, your poem witnesses to the same endurance: the body will ever recall...
Your poem brings intimacy to strangeness. I didn't find it sad. Instead here's the journey we will all take, and we are blessed if we truly love. A wonderful poem.
Wow, such a wonderful encapsulation of the intensity of longing for that which we cannot always have.
And belated thanks for your kind comment on my Scribbling of last week (re: our boy standing up for his truth).
I really liked this! I love elderly people so much. My Grandmothers were the sweetest women I knew! I loved the women that lived at my Grandmothers Senior Housing Apartment. This poem brought back nice memories.
Love is never forgotten is it? Powerfully sad and far too many will know this pain. Beautiful work! HUGS
Wow! Amazing poem. Makes you believe that love can endure all.
wew... so deep and touching.
hope it will not happen to us.
So profound and tragic. We can never be sure if it will come to this but we can only hope not.
Really well written!
How poignant, how beautiful... and it so perfectly describes what I think but cant put into such apt words! Beautiful!
Phyllis -
what a wonderfully bittersweet and loving piece this was... I was moved.
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