DEMENTIA... A LIFE UNRAVELED - Gifts by Grace :: Soaring Hearts

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DEMENTIA... A LIFE UNRAVELED

May 6, 2010 • By Barbara Parentini

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

Visitor Comments (2)

Thanks

Posted By MEMEJEAN on July 4, 2010

Dear Barbara,

Thank you for your kind comment on Vonda's blog.

This poem is both beautiful and heart-wrenching. I can hear your pain for your dad. My dad had a long, tormented struggle with cancer before he died. Watching him suffer for three years brought many questions to the surface of my heart. But God answered them all by letting me experience His sovereignt first hand.

It's painful to watch someone so strong, someone who held you up for many years, slip away from you by inches.

I pray God will provide solace for you and rest for your dad.

Jean Hall

A Life Unraveled...

Posted By RIVERWOODWRITER on June 1, 2010

Oh, Barbara, what a beautiful but painful poem you have written! I'm sure many who are going through something similar will appreciate your willingness to share the stark, cruel reality with which you are dealing right now. Knowing there's no way through it except...well, <i>through</i> it..must seem so overwhelming sometimes.

Fortunately, there is no dream or nightmare ... no "cruel wasteland"...too far for God to find you and your father both. I pray that you may feel His presence, inside yourself and through the ministrations of professionals and the caring gestures of loved ones.

Elizabeth