dawn was the day
come rain or shine
starting out on my pathway
it would always feel fine
when dawn was the day
sat here sundowning
taking time to look back
the clouds want to sing
raining dirt on my track
but I'm just sundowning
all must head west
chasing their rainbows
it is a soul's quest
to find what life knows
so all must head west
look I'm just sundowning
taking time to reminisce
now let the sun sing
an embrace finds a kiss
so I'm just sundowning
life was being with you
you were my home
my sunshine view
wherever we might roam
life was being with you
when I'm sundowning
just taking my time
harmonies will sing
and my spirit will climb
when I'm sundowning
sundowning it seems
maybe comes too soon
time is faster than dreams
as the sun moves a moon
sundowning my streams
you are my sundowning
my song to sing
my happy sundowning
my regret nothing
written May 11, 2023
based on "Early Morning Rain"
Gordon Lightfoot inspiration contest,
sponsored by: Robert James Liguori
Categories:
sundowning, life, love, remember,
Form: Lyric
Note: Sundowning – Most commonly in Alzheimer and Dementia patients, Sundowning, is changes in behavior that get worse in late afternoon, evening and can even last all night. Patients may be agitated, confused, unable to sleep; it may appear in other forms of disruptive behavior.
Eight sleepless nights, pacing non-stop;
legs, knee-bent, dragging toes are scraping carpet.
Enduring a painful back; each breath drawn
makes it throb and exhaustion’s in control.
I can’t sleep until he sleeps;
must stay awake in case he falls.
I hold my breath to stand;
it dulls the sharp stabbing pain in my back.
I swallow another migraine pill and
pray for him to fall asleep; he does not.
Respite eludes me; caregiver to a dementia-mind,
I collapse into a chair, dizzy and call myself an ambulance.
I’m drained, hungry and he’ll Sundown several nights.
I pass out and am brought around by an EMT;
my patient's oblivious to the fact that
anyone’s come into the house…
he paces…and paces…
Categories:
sundowning, caregiving, how i feel,
Form: Free verse
She was an old lady, widowed for years long.
Mrs. Sims was her name, lived a block away.
She was alone, her three children were gone.
Never a caring word did she hear them say.
I was busy, a young man trying for the top.
Board meetings, audits, trips—much to do.
Those were priorities, taking time nonstop.
Mrs. Sims didn’t matter in that world I knew.
At my wife’s urging, we went to the viewing.
One look at her face remodeled my mind.
She echoed Mother, which was my undoing.
In an instant, tears of regret my eyes affined.
I thought of how in her sundowning hours
Mother was surrounded by dear caring ones.
But Mrs. Sims received no love, no flowers.
Not from her daughter, nor from her sons.
In her passing that widow lady taught me
Mothers matter more than earthly acclaim.
Now I seek the old lonely wherever they be
Lest for being uncaring I’m worthy of blame.
It’s easy to set aside the old and the used,
Supposing they have nothing left to give.
But that mindset must sternly be refused:
They can teach us the Christ-like way to live.
Categories:
sundowning, age, devotion,
Form: Rhyme
Otherworldly, tactile retraction
of rainbows,
from the eyes of believers.
Detachment of restless mind
at twilight, pot starts
boiling.
Sundowning, a paranoia
takes over, you suffer a childhood
near the pyre.
Thing is not a thing
exclusive of an extremist,
something burns inside me also.
The age of a tulip
moves backward; I, untethered,
float thoughtless in speech.
SATISH VERMA
Categories:
sundowning, art,
Form: ABC
Otherworldly, tactile retraction
of rainbows,
from the eyes of believers.
Detachment of restless mind
at twilight, pot starts
boiling.
Sundowning, a paranoia
takes over, you suffer a childhood
near the pyre.
Thing is not a thing
exclusive of an extremist,
something burns inside me also.
The age of a tulip
moves backward; I, untethered,
float thoughtless in speech.
SATISH VERMA
Categories:
sundowning, adventure, allegory, angst, animals,
Form: I do not know?