The stroke, quick and neat.
The string of pearls, round and red.
Quick, they must go before they slide from their string.
Clean, a new string forms, round and red.

Anger, hatred, disappointment.
Scratch, cut, bite-No, not those, not today.
Rx-Yes, just one kind or maybe two.
Soft, sleepy, detachment as it
all slips away, saturating mind and soul.
Sweet confusion, dullness, lethargy.

Dementia. A word that seems medieval, and brings to mind images of ranting, violent murderous madmen. But I know that is not what it is. It is quiet and slow and creeps up on its victims until it has a hold of them, a hold so strong it will continue to vine its way through their mind and soul until it has choked everything that made them who they are out. Its insidious, showing its true self in time for its victims to know it has them and what it will do to them. Fear and anger overwhelm the victims, as they realize they are losing themselves to it. As the dementia wraps its coils tighter and tighter, the fear and anger are turned to those who care for its victims, making them victims as well as they watch their loved ones slowly suffocate in its grip. Eventually, a look into the eyes of the demented reveals not a lunatic, but an empty slate, wiped clean. Once in a while a little bit of who they were sneaks out, “These flowers, they’re called butter and sugar flowers, they always grew in our yard when I was a child,” “I know I don’t get everything right, but I really try hard,” “Louise, they must have buried her here in her urn the way she wanted.”

Where do the souls of the victims go? Does god have a special place for them? Perhaps their souls drift among the living, helping them remember who they were. A sudden memory of being allowed to hide in the closet among the many old clothes that smelled so different and were from another era, a game of hopscotch with a Nana who has served as a surrogate grandmother for many years, a go cart built together, a love of animals instilled through the kindness shown to any stray. I pray that God has a special place for these souls until they may enter heaven, because he has left us their bodies to teach us patience and kindness and how to give them the dignity they deserve as we watch them slowly slip away.