Absence Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The absence

He was trapped on a carousel
that went around and around, never stopping.
For him, every day was a new day
he had lost the ability to remember yesterday.
A woman, who said she was his wife
gave him coffee and breakfast and which made him happy.
Every day he watched the same movie and it was for him
a new movie he must have seen hundreds of times.
There was a family meeting, his wife was so old and tired
he had to go to another home, this distressed him greatly.
In the afternoon he sat in a room with many elderly people
watching a movie, his brain told him he had never seen.
In a clear moment, a light was switched on, it dawned on him
this was not his home.
He cried then, before sinking back to his absence