Thief 'Our Journey Through Alzheimer's' Poem by Jo R. Escher

A silent thief that steals day after day

UN-merciful and UN-relenting

The faceless grim reaper


That death finally releases

After years

Days

Moments

Of torture


A horror that one is made to

Stand

Kneel

Crawl


While watching

Helpless to stop it's progression

Or change it's path

It revels in fear and thrives in pain


It grows like a black rose

It's thorns cutting away the very souls of it's victims


It consumes a lifetime of memories and purpose

Bartered as an equivalent for it's putrid breath

It covers it's victims in a silent shroud

Left without voice or expression


Words devoid

While eyes speak volumes

Tears bathe anguished hearts

Dear Mother Yours and mine


One alone will not quench it's thirst

It will claim countless lives

That can remember


As we count the seconds

The days


Until the thief will return

As to steal our own memories

Of it's very presence


It is the silent thief that I detest most of all

Not the merciful death..

9/4/2003