A usually progressive condition marked by deteriorated cognitive functioning often with
emotional apathy.
I comb my mind for happy thoughts,
I’d like to paint them in a poem.
But ev’ry day the news is fraught
With raging hate, evincing moans.
I find I don’t remember well
Can’t find allusions, names, or words—
No matter how intent I dwell,
My thoughts escape like frightened birds.
But then they pop, come back again—
Confront me with a night so dark,
I wonder at the spite of men,
The absence of all human spark.
Perhaps, as years encompass me,
Again, I’ll be adventurer—
Retreat from horror, embrace glee—
Secure in rapt dementia.
(9/20/11)