Time's Ribbons

    by Eira Needham

I pause in reverie, my thoughts awhirl

with Mammy’s songs that once enchanted me,

while tying sky blue trimmings to my curls

and soothing bloodied bruises on my knee.

Now auld lang syne and present are combined

in misted memories; confusion reigns.

As time entwines its ribbons through her mind,

I ache to watch her struggle on in vain.

She’s lost -- adrift like flotsam on the waves

while slipping backward to familiar past,

forgetting loved ones are at rest in graves.

Alzheimer’s sea is turbulent and vast.

Now wearing tattered slippers, she’s coerced

to tread the shifting sand to springtime days.

I’ve stepped into her shoes, our roles reversed,

to guide her through confusion’s endless maze.

I find her stumbling on and feel despair.

She’s sliding down a slope; the syndrome hurls

her into deep delusions. I’m aware

one day she will forget -- I am her girl.

© 2012 Eira Needham

Born in a small Welsh mining village, Eira Needham has lived most of her life in Birmingham UK. She has been a teacher,carer, crafter, herpetologist and poet. Her poetry is eclectic and published in print and online. Recent publications include Yes Poetry, Linnet's Wings and Westward Quarterly.