The Hours of Alzheimer
The Hours of Alzheimer
12
It starts ticking away slowly
Longer needed to search what’s known.
Watching the hand jerk
Minutes passing
“Twelve is for noon, then?”
“Yes. Yes, Daddy! Just like that.
Twelve noon is lunch.”
3
Very gently, oh so sweetly,
Out of love and kindest thought
Offering words and filling fissures
Keeping pace and instant beating
“The, oh, you know, the oh how silly, the the box thing”
“Yes, the box thing, the clock, Daddy. Says it’s 3 and time for tea.”
6
Now impatience starts its tapping
Chasms stretching longer still
Wanting this moment
to stop its running
“I I please fork I I food”
“Oh, of course, dear Daddy. Dinner time.
Here, your fork. ”
9
Interval waxing
Memory waning
Lingering in the distance
This cavity expanding
“ I I I I”
“Oh it’s last course time Daddy. Some dessert, then time for bed.”
12
Midnight falling
Thoughts abandoned
Cadence silent
Dead of night
First published: Poetry Quarterly
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