by Sylvie Leochko

Created on: March 31, 2009

Alzheimer's disease is like a thief

It acts in a moment, oh so brief

My mother-in-law was affected

At an early aged, was afflicted

The frustration of memory lapses

Her conscience troubled her with voices

Her past acted as a security blanket

It was safe to remember going to the market

Abilities and talents gradually disappeared

While her needs increased as we feared

As she gradually lost her independence

Creeping in was a higher level of dependence

No complaints ever reached her lips

Even when her mind did a few flips

As time passed, she gradually regressed

Hiding in her cocoon she became depressed

The words gradually lacked in conversations

Needs and opinions were absent in communication

The simplest needs such as eating and grooming

Were difficult to achieve without her loved ones helping

Her eyes wondered in space in search for answers

While her mind was confused by what was hers

Her body soon adopted the fetal position

As it eventually lost the desire for action

Relationships fell apart one by one

Sure to be said, of her fault there was none

Family and friends were no more than strangers

It did not matter if it applied to her children, her brother or sisters

In the end she passed in the loneliness of her condition

Alzheimer's disease had shown no redemption

It came one day in her early fifties

And took her away in her late sixties

No matter that she could no longer remember

Whom she loved and was important to her

She will always be thought of as a wonderful woman

A caring and loving person that gave her heart like only she can

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