Devastating Dementia Poem by Paula Glynn

The tragic and incurable illness dementia
Does touch many lives: it's staggering
Dementia something one does despise
Robbing a person of their special memories
Leaving a person alone with forgotten thoughts
Like a thief trying to forget they've been caught,

When sitting in an isolated prison cell
No one for company or friendship and laughter
No one to fully understand the fighting frustrations
When outside in the world getting palpitations
Confused with everything you know and see
Angry knowing your faculties are impaired

And it's like people unconsciously stare
As if a person has a sign on their forehead
Saying the inevitable "I have dementia: beware"
Wondering if dementia makes one mad
People pitying you as if you're feeling desolate and sad
Which you are partly: but even you wonder if you are mad.

It's an insult: that's what it is
Dementia has caught you like a fish in a net
And makes everything you experienced gone
Memories you never wanted to forget: not have disappear
But you keep a strong front as if you are fully here
You act out as if you're normal: as if everything is clear.

You go to sleep at night after watching TV as normal
You wake up with the alarm in the morning as normal
You eat your cornflakes for breakfast as normal
Everything is normal in the carehome
But deep down you just know
You are on the winding path down to oblivion.