The Thief
Posted: 31 Oct 2017, 03:57
(sorry if this is a bleak poem. I should explain that my Mum, who is no longer with us, had Alzheimers)
So you came. You slipped and slithered in, unwanted, uninvited,
and stretched your cold hands out, and took away
all that gave peace to night and light to day,
all memories cherished, and all beauty sighted.
So you came. Turned what was brilliant and bright to tarnished grey,
Took away laughter, then, and cursed and blighted
all that had interested, spurred, excited,
took away the thousand words still left to say ...
And you stole dignity, and stole the past,
and stole the present, and the future, too,
and nothing could endure, and nothing last ...
You came, and there was nothing we could do,
and hope and joy and even love were cast
aside. Oh, cruel thief, curses on you!
So you came. You slipped and slithered in, unwanted, uninvited,
and stretched your cold hands out, and took away
all that gave peace to night and light to day,
all memories cherished, and all beauty sighted.
So you came. Turned what was brilliant and bright to tarnished grey,
Took away laughter, then, and cursed and blighted
all that had interested, spurred, excited,
took away the thousand words still left to say ...
And you stole dignity, and stole the past,
and stole the present, and the future, too,
and nothing could endure, and nothing last ...
You came, and there was nothing we could do,
and hope and joy and even love were cast
aside. Oh, cruel thief, curses on you!