The Tragedy of Dementia
The Tragedy of Dementia
By Elton Camp
What was Lora has faded away
Slowly, inexorably, irreversibly
Competence, intelligence, caring
Lost in a morass of tangled neurons
Unperceived by her in the early stages
Though all-too-evident to her family
“They say I can’t drive anymore
I can, but they just won’t let me”
Parents she wants to pay a visit
Though dead for decades now
Frustrating confusion interspersed
With a day or so of relative clarity
More and more, growing uncertainty
“Now just who did you say you are?”
Adults claiming to be her children
It can’t be true, but they still insist
She stares at one, uncomprehending
“I have a daughter with that name”
To her husband of sixty years duration
“I don’t know you, we aren’t married”
Finally the end, unmercifully slow
Death enveloped Lora like a fog
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