Perception

Her Vagaries of depth perception trends
to stumbling shuffle and a questioning hand,
as though each footfall falls on shifting sand –
a shapeless void she barely comprehends.
My proffered help elicits stress afresh,
a vacuous response; my chastening word –
transmogrified within her networks blurred,
mutates to querulous destructiveness.
Old photos of her vibrant self when young,
excite a jealous envy and distaste,
because her former self does not belong –
her home, her erstwhile life – entire effaced.
So, from their frames her images she peels,
aware not of the insight it reveals

(August 2019)
Author – Mr John Burman

[Author’s note: These sonnets chronicle the inevitable and wretched decline in my wife’s cognitive function due to Vascular Dementia from my viewpoint as her loving carer. JHB]

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