Poem – Through My Mother’s Eyes

I look out the eyes of my mother in pain.
Dementia is a struggle of more loss than gain.

She gets confused and blames others for that state.
She cannot seem to find what she wants or the proper gate.

I see that aging exaggerates what and who we have always been.
For her, anxiety and fear were her closest friends.

With all the therapy and inner work she tried.
She could not let go, even with countless therapies applied.

And now those fears that stalked her inner planes.
Have become unleashed and fear has the reins.

I wish for her only peace and joy.
I wish I could soothe her like a child with a favorite toy.

But there are moments that one must walk alone.
And that is the deeper fear that she now bemoans.

Death is a walk that is done by one.
Death is a path that some walk and some run.

The angel of death is not very far away.
She believes that blame and anger will keep him at bay.

But he walks with her now even as she resists.
And all she sees is an empty and lonely abyss.
~Suzanne Wagner~