Morgan Stanley, Epping Forest
Fisher Dogger Bight.
Cream Teas, cottage cheese
What has happened to my sight?
I had a boat the Mary Ellen
She sailed the seven seas
We braved the ocean regularly
We relished every breeze.
I sometimes think I had a wife
Whose name was Rosa May.
I’m not bitter-I enjoyed my life
But my memory has gone away.
Who are you? Why are you here?
Losing my mind is what I fear.
©Alison Jean Hankinson
This is for d’Verse open link night, and is dedicated to the people who reside at Rimu Park, Radius residential care home in Whangarei, where I used to take the students to read to the older folk.
Dementia is a cruel disease in so many ways. You have to try to build up the picture of a persons life from fragments of story. I think this is what dad would be like if he ever ended up with dementia. He sailed his boat for as long as he could after he lost his bosun and has now moved on to caravans, but the shipping forecast with its wonderful array of places was always waited for and listened to.
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Hues of Hankinson 
I empathise and sympathise, Alison. I remember what Mum was like before she disappeared completely. Dementia is a heartbreaker.
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the girl in the photo is my Ellen, the daughter I left in NZ. You have an Ellen too?
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Yes! My Ellen will be 37 in November and is expecting her first child – I can’t wait to be a grandmother!
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Oh how exciting. What joy. XXX
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Without memory I would forget what I intended to do and why. I can see how this is disabling. Nice sound in your poem!
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The shipping forecast is a poem in its own right. I like the way you associate it with dementia, and the clutching at repetition of lists of words to stop everything flying away;
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A very moving poem Alison and I love the photographs too. I hope you father will always remember the special moments and people in his life xxx
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I so relate to this poem after watching my mother slowly lose her memories due to Alzheimer’s, before she totally slipped away into her own mind. It is heartbreaking having a loved one going through this.
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Yes and when you visit the care homes their loved ones visit and hold hands and listen to their stories and then the visits are forgotten in a flicker to give way to some distant recollection of a moment long gone.
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I spent many hours by my mother’s bedside before she died. many long hours.
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This is so moving.. sigh.. My grandmother was in her early stages of dementia before she passed away..
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love to you. xxx
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How sad and cruel it is ~ I hope my family and I don’t succomb to this lamentable disease ~ Appreciate the personal share Alison ~
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My mother had Alzheimer’s, so your words resonated with me. Sad, but a lovely rhyming rhythm.
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Heartbreaking to think that one can lose memories. Sometimes memories are the only intangible things we have. But like tangible items they too can fade away. Beautifully written.
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I love “Fisher Dogger Bight”
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Such a hard condition, for everyone involved. You captured it well.
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Thank you for reminding us of a condition we should not wish on anyone, friend or foe. With memories of our past gone, what are we left with. Great piece!
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Sad and evocative. Thank you for sharing. Dementia is heartbreaking.
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This is a haunting write. Thank you for shaing the photos of your dad and daughter, Ellen. The slipping away….that is the very difficult process to watch, even as the person sits beside you.
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Very moving…well done
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