Dear Friends~
Many of you may have wondered about my long silence. For weeks, I have been with my dad who is suffering with Lewy Bodies Disease. It is a dreadful affliction, and many prayers are prayed everyday on his behalf. For all of you who have sent your wishes for his improvement, your kind words and prayers, my deepest thanks.
When Dad's condition escalated to a critical point in April, fear and doubt circled like vultures stalking their prey. My days were filled with prayers for Dad, looking to Jesus for peace and healing. One night, through tears and knots in my stomach, words poured onto the page, and this poem, "A Life Unraveled," emerged.
For those of you who have lost a loved one to Alzheimers or Lewy Bodies (or other forms of dementia), and have experienced your loved one's hand slipping through yours, you will understand the turbulent emotions of this poem. I am grateful to find solace in God's gentle touch through poetry.
Please feel free to leave a comment or prayer request on this website for your loved ones.
A Life Unraveled
Today feels like a dream, a mirage in a desert.
I watch him stumble toward it, thirsty,
longing for a sign of life-giving water to drink,
desperate to dispel death's demons that dance
in and out of his waking nightmare.
Who are these images that beckon my father to their world,
Who taunt and frighten him and beg his food?
Where did they come from, these men working,
young women sitting with babies on their laps
and little children who sit in silence,
their haunting eyes watching him eat?
Day by day he slips away in his darkened room,
One foot in heaven and one foot in this earthly hell.
Shouts of warning, "Get out of my house!" slam
the pine walls as intruders move through them
at will... only to return again.
His near-blind eyes cloud with memories.
Dry lips whisper his New Year's resolution to go to heaven.
In vain, he clings to dignity as his sanity evaporates
in the cruel wastelands
of the mind.
Barbara Parentini April 8, 2010
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