The Helper Cannot Help Poem by Shalom Freedman

THE HELPER CANNOT HELP

The helper cannot help-
The caregiver is not wanted-

I sit and wait
For the person I am to help
To speak to me again
And again agree to go to walk-

Life is difficult
This man once had a mind
As good as yours or mine
And now he can only speak gibberish.

Ashamed of and afraid for himself
His honor lost to others doing things for him
He rebels
And his once kind nature
Becomes stubbornness and anger-

Oh Mercy on him
And Mercy on us all
Poor human beings
Who so often are suddenly afflicted
With impossible pains and frustrations
We cannot deal with
Or ever be healed from again.