which makes Dale not
always Dale
because he has it
tangles develop deep in the brain
and my sister, his wife,
some strange person
he wants to push out of his house
someone he accuses of crimes
against him, but she did not steal
what he has lost.
She can take him to
last year’s photo,
the two of them together,
and he will know
who’s in the picture, and it looks
just like her
plaques form
but when he turns
and looks right in her face
she’s not the one in the photo
not his wife
and he might ask
as he does most nights
where are you
going to sleep?
He can’t help it--
everyone knows that--
neurons work less efficientlyand should not be blamed
but it’s hard to remember
when he’s in the middle of
being lost
and something or everything
is her fault somehow
and she does not belong
with him, where she has lived
more than fifty years.
Hard to remember, hard
to hope, hard to forgive.
Then, in a moment
or an hour
there is no treatment to cure
she is someone he knows
his wife again delay or stop
and he says nice things
no more pushing, no
accusations, only smiles
the disease
he calls her by her name
and he is Dale again
and she thinks
maybe this time for good.
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