Do Not Ask Me To Remember

Do Not Ask Me To Remember.
Do not ask me to remember
Don’t try to make me understand.
Let me rest and know you’re with me.
Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.
I’m confused beyond your concept.
I am sad and sick and lost.
All I know is that I need you
To be with me at all cost.
Do not lose your patience with me.
Do not scold or curse or cry.
I can’t help the way I’m acting,
Can’t be different though I try.
Just remember that I need you,
That the best of me is gone.
Please don’t fail to stand beside me,
Love me till my life is done.
( Owen Darnell )

Dementia Poem.
I’m in this home. They put me here.
Don’t know the date, I don’t know the year,
I sit, I think, I reminisce.
Of the days gone by, total joy and bliss.
But confusion sets in, and I start to panic,
Medication wears off, it makes me erratic,
Where am I? I don’t know this place.
Someone is speaking, I see their face.
This one that speaks, I may recognise.
Something familiar, something about those eyes.
I think he’s not all there, I think he may be mad,
Why does he hold my hand? Why does he call me Dad?
They will not leave, they will not go.
So, I sit in silence, signs of life I will not show.
Still, they hold my hand and they speak to me.
They just wont let go, who can they be?
My mind is addled I’m all confused,
My mind feels broken and it feels bruised.
I wish my wife was still around,
She’d ease my pain, she was so profound.
I listen as they all mill about,
I hear them whisper and I want to shout.
What do they want? Why don’t they leave?
I think they are liars, and I disbelieve.
I remember times of long ago,
But not recent times, as my mind has slowed.
Endless summers and times of joy
When I was small, just a little boy.
I remember well, my wedding day.
A happy memory that’s here to stay.
But, it all goes fuzzy and all goes grey
And, I can’t remember even yesterday.
They think me mad, they think me senile.
They are the ones that are in denial.
This mental illness is no joke,
I used to be normal, now I’m just smoke.
The onset came and it took hold,
It ate my mind and it has left me cold.
Deep inside I try and fight,
I push at it with all my might.
Some days are good and some quite bad,
But either way, when my end comes I’ll not be sad.
My brain has gone, now left this place.
I have passed on, the next world I shall embrace.
( John Steward )