Knotty Tangles
I see you going away from me
A little bit at a time
Wisps of memories ever falling
From your fingertips
To drop into nothingness
Confusion and anxiety bite at you
Chewing at your mind
Weighing you down and dragging me under

Knotty tangles twist in your brain
Strangling every thought you have
Making you slip away
Every moment of every day
A little bit more of you dissolves
Leaving you a stranger to yourself
Leaving me here unable to help
And aching for you

All we have is our memories
All we are is made up of memories
And yours are slipping away
Falling from your fingertips
Dissolving into nothingness
Where confusion and anxiety reign
Tearing at you
Until you are not quite you anymore

This is ever so terrible
But more terrible still
Is that sometimes you come back
For a moment or two
And then slip away again
The knotty tangles taking you away
Leaving you bereft of the memories
You once held so dear.

C.A. Erickson

*inspired by the movie Away From Her, a story about a man who's wife has early onset Alzheimer's.