It is as if
her whole complex
85 year life of

memories and actuality is
broken up into
4 word phrases,

shaken in a lotto wheel,
and a phrase selected
more or less at random,

occasionally matching
the conversation.
Mostly she is unaware now,

but occasionally she will notice
and apologize
breaking my heart all over.

What I would wish
for her is peace
and she has more a measure of this.

Her life here lingers
losing a bit, then another bit,
until we have lost all of it.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2012

From Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine