On The Way Down Poem by Shalom Freedman

On the way down
Trying to hold on to my mind
I test myself
Trying to put names and faces together

Sometimes I suddenly succeed
And sometimes there is a blankness
Of a kind never known before

Don't get me wrong
It is by and large
Still working

But it is on its way inevitably down
My mind my me

I have seen others
Who lost it completely

Who no longer knew
Who they were

I have seen the terrible confusion
And anger
When it all cracks up and goes

I hope I will get out before then
But who knows?

We are physical processes
After all
That also

I pray for my soul
And my mind
I pray to hold on in my life

But one day sometime
I may no longer recognize
The name that now claims
To have written these words.