Depression deepens with age,

Dark, silent hands sweep aside courage,

Disease draws out life, desire, delight,

Forgotten memories are swept away like snuffed candlelight.

Family binds tighten, but memory slips away,

Forever brilliant, but always fading,

Fear celebrates each slip, each ebbing thought,

Gasping, grasping, holding tight.

Am I family?

Am I still here?

Am I remembered?

Am I counted, loved, seen?

Do I matter?

Is it all for nothing?

Is it forever?

Is it necessary?

Why? What is it for?

Memory, lost memory.

J. Windsor