by M. L. Kiser

Created on: June 11, 2010

He succumbed to the grip of steel;

cold as a glacier, sharp as a butcher’s blade

and it ate him alive,

like everyone else in its path.

A caregiver’s health, hope, future;

just snacks for this famished and rabid menace.

Suffocation of mind and body

are key goals of this demon from Hell.

A crushing boa that squeezes and juices dignity;

one’s very life spews forth like volcanic vomit.

It eats its’ victims alive,

suffocates anyone who dares to care.

A giant tick sucking the life force from innocents

like the yolk from an uncooked egg is sucked from a shell.

Mindless robots, wandering continuously,

watch delusions of long-gone days and the dead are

brought to life again; just TV for the diseases  entertainment;

life’s terror-play.

Demon Alzheimer’s is vile, cruel,

a thief who steals your very existence, slowly and

all the while, laughing in your face.

The only sweet thing about it, is the freedom of death.

I took it upon myself to care

to salvage what I could from the demon Alzheimer’s.

This soulless dictator, sucking away life, slowly

yet without regard for victim, family or friends.

Somewhere in the caring, I lost me; my own spirit

like some old valuable coin, put safely aside and forgotten

and my health ran away; searching for the elusive rest that never comes.

I tucked my imagination, my creativity, my dreams;

my spirit for temporary safe-keeping and I can’t recall where I put them.

Sleep deprivation makes you forgetful, and so

I became like the very patient that I’d cared for;

wandering aimlessly, in search of some inkling of me.

It takes a long time to heal, to reconnect with life,

Oneself when you’re ravaged by someone else’s disease;

when, you’ve watched an intelligent human

become a mindless shell;

have fought 24 hours a day to connect to a computer whose

main program is stuck in a permanent loop.

To comprehend why there no longer can be any connection.

Logic cringes in Alzheimer’s wake and

joy is a non-existent entity from a mythological realm.

Any other death is easier and quicker for its victim

and caregivers;

a welcome relief compared to the slow

corrosion served to the victims of this disease.

Oh yes, caregivers are victims too;

the most unfortunate ones because the patient,

the victim, doesn’t know that they are

suffering after a while, but the caregiver watches;

knowing all is hopeless, mindless exhaustion, emptiness

and your own spirit rots along with the patient

while Demon Alzheimer’s sits back, laughing at both of you.

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