11 June 1921 - 10 August 1995
Sunrise Sunset
by Gary Jacobson
My dear mother’s favorite song
To but hear her sing it again I long
Her favorite refrain
Who knew her sunset
Would bring such pain...
If she only knew
How true
The words of the song
Twisted wrong...
She so loved the Lord
With all her might
With her whole mind
And strength
Maintaining true faith in truth’s sword...
Giving all to her family
Her call words hope
Faith
Sincere charity...
With unfettered,
Unvarnished
Purity...
Sanctity...
Virtuously paint...
My most beloved saint.
When in sunset of her goodly life led
Alzheimer's foul specter, reared its ugly head.
Though her body was still strong
Her love of life a worshipful song.
Alzheimer’s robbed her of mind, and fled
Till she could not remember her family...
Could not remember even me...
Whom she called her #1 son
Her beloved one.
But when I danced with her
Even after she’d forgotten how to talk
Barely remembered how to walk
Singing Sunrise Sunset in her ear
She sang along
And an angel’s voice I hear...
Singing back to me
Reverential joy filling me...
A tear filled my eye
As I still uncontrollably cry
Remembering what she was to me
Decried the loss of all dignity
Her great capacity to love affinity
Wishing fervently for her
Of this despicable burden to be free.
I remember how she used to wrestle
On the floor with my brother and me,
How she would bounce me on her knee.
Oh how I knew,
She with abiding loved her boys...
Family and church her greatest joys
And her precious daughter
Filling her heart with laughter
Teaching devotion to live, for hereverafter.
The sunset of her sweet, giving life
Now filled with sad, twisted memories rife
Till all she loved she forgot ...
All she worked for she forgot...
Forgot all she importantly taught,
All the good works she’d patiently wrought...
Forgot her faith...
Forgot how to chew...
But to the last, my mother remembered her smile,
Through darkened valley of Alzheimer’s mile
Her greatest trial...
Though she forgot why...
Till nothing was left
But to die.
My mother lived as long as she remembered how to breathe,
Till that too she forgot...
But I will never forget...
Will always honor her...
Will forever love her...
Though her sweet memory brings a tear to my eye,
And will to the day I too die.
A MOTHER'S ROSE
