My Mind Is Slowly Going Away From Me Poem by Shalom Freedman

My mind is slowly going away from me
Slowly slowly
The loss of names
The blank spaces
The efforts to recall
The too late ‘eurekas'
I fear it will go away before I die
More than death I fear this
My mind is going away
Slowly slowly
And I continue to pretend
I am wholly alright
And will be alright
And it will all be so slow
Than when I say goodbye
It will be with understanding
And the greatest kindness possible
To those left behind
But how can I know how it will go?
And how long I will be with my mind?