Alzheimer’s Hotel

Dedicated to my father Robert Netherlain
1912-1999

What do you think of this place where I stay?
It's a fine hotel in every way.
Thank you for coming. Who'd you say you are?
I seem to forget. I'm not quite up to par.

*****

You say it's my birthday? Does my age show?
How the years have flown by. Why didn't I know?
Where is my bed? Someone show me the way.
I'm not quite sure where I should stay.

*****

I was sure it was morning. You say it is night?
Are you lying to me? Now that just isn't right.
You say it's the truth and I forget a lot?
Are you meaning my brain has began to rot?

*****

You claim that you're family? Well I can't recall!
You're much too old. My family's still small.
You say that's my wife in the picture you hold?
That can not be. She too, is too old.

*****

I'm in the hospital? Now that just can't be!
There simply is nothing the matter with me.
I have Alzheimer's? Is that like the flu?
I hope there is something the doctors can do.

ALZHEIMERS POINT OF VIEW

The daughter stood there and looked at her Dad
and all of her thoughts came out kind OF sad.

He couldn’t remember five minutes ago
or a trip to his Doctor. (They’d both had to go)

The nursing home team had given him a mental lift
A balloon and a card. He thought it a fine gift

He didn’t know it was for a birthday he’d had
Just getting a gift made him feel kind of glad

He thought he really should go~~
And share with a friend who had nothing ‘to show’

He thought he should give half what he had
Cause ‘No one did nothing to make her life glad’

Then he forgot the whole business again
This poor old man, pretty old, kind of thin

The daughter asked “Do you know me?” and gave her name
He said “I know I should but I don’t. What a shame.

She has a good heart. She’s the best in the land
When it comes to caring she’ll lend friends a hand

Me and my wife (She had died long ago)
Jump in and help her. We want to, you know

The daughter wipes a tear from her eye
For she knows by now it does no good to cry

He’s like an empty shell and does mean to forget
It’s just that his minds in a deep mental pit

It’s called Alzheimer’s. He has it real bad
I’ll stay by his side for that man is my dad

I’ll swallow my heartache, take one day at a time
I’ll share him with others in words I make rhyme

There’s supposed to be reasons for bad and for good
I guess that his life has gone like it should

It’s still hard to believe that his life could be right
When the poor man can’t tell if it’s morning or night

When he forgets he should finish the food on his plate
And has no idea the world shares joy and hate

Why he has to be helped and one must show him the way
To find bathroom and bed. He gets lost every day

Someday it will end. He will just go to sleep
Perhaps then at last my heart won’t have to weep

He doesn’t know me and I guess that’s okay
It’s enough that I’m here and part of his day

So I’ll end one more story of me and my dad
And remember a childhood where once we were glad

The Alzheimer Dilemma

I don’t know that I don’t know
Where I’ve been or where to go
Am I on a farm or in a town?
Was I getting up or laying down?
Is it morning or it it night?
Something here is not quite right
Who’s that man in the looking glass
Will he move and let me pass?
Tell me friend and tell me true
Is that color yellow, green or blue?
Are those pants or are they shoes?
I feel sad. I’ve got the blues
Shall I eat or go to bed?
Is there a place I can lay my head?
I can’t find a bathroom anywhere
Why is it my head's not clear?
Where’s my family? I can’t recall
Seems to me I’ve lost them all
I have Alzheimers. Don’t you see?
I can’t help what’s happened to me
Please don’t laugh at things I do
This shell of a person could have been you

(This was published in an analogy of poems and written on behalf of my father. It is dedicated to him. He once walked the same sands of life as you. He never knew one day he would be a ‘shell’.)

For other Diva sites on Alzheimer's, click on banner at top of page.

BACK                      INDEX