ByrdStir

A story of dementia preventing the resolution of a parental estrangement.

It's been so long since I've been here to see you.
Those years have carved more furrows in your brow.
And I was wrong to let the pain I went through
keep us so far apart until just now.

I had heard that you were failing
But you sounded fine those few times on the phone.
I should have known
Your lucid zone.

I'm your Bud, Papa.
Do you remember?
The apricots ripe on the tree that grew in our front yard.
Willow Creek in spring.
The fish on the campfire.
We were there, Papa.
Try to remember?

I don't recall ever saying I love you.
Sometimes I wonder if that’s really true.
But I was blind to put myself above you,
so mad for years of Dad I never knew.

But precious images of childhood with you
Shine like gleaming jewels against the sand
Slipped from your hand….
under no command.

How was anyone to know that time would
find your mind a rubbed-out slate?
Now it's too late
to contemplate.

I'm your Bud, Papa.
Do you remember?
the apricots ripe on the tree that grew in our front yard.
Willow Creek in spring.
The fish on the campfire.
We were there, Papa.
Try to remember.