In the Glow of Love

Eating in the dark

They sat down to eat
She thought, It’s too dark to see
He said It’s all right, my love,
I will help you

But I see nothing, she said
But I can, he said
Well, she said,
Maybe I can see something
That’s great, he said,
What can you see?
She sighed.
Uh, I can see…
A little glow

He shunted his chair
Closer in to hers
And rubbed her shoulder with his
To ease her unease
She groped for his hand
His left hand found hers
They gripped
Reassurance ran through her frail body

He gazed at her
Hoping to penetrate the darkness
For her
While his right hand felt around
’Till it found a spoon
And, never taking his eyes away,
Dipped into the mashed spuds
And scooped some out
He pretended the spoonful
Was a helicopter
And made the sound
Whump-whump-whump-whump
The chopper found her chin
She pretended to be a hangar
And opened her mouth
In went the food
She swallowed
And made her laughing sound
That chided him
For being so foolish…
Playfully
And so they worked their way
Through supper

Love
Is what it was
Devotion
And he, too, glowed
In its warmth

He helped her with her drink
In the same manner

Then he took away the bib,
The dishes
The tray
And parked his chair in the corner
He took the brakes off
Her wheelchair
And wheeled her into the hallway
Along the way
He described to her
What she could not see

But she did see something–
She saw the glow
And the glow was love

—

About the glow of love and Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s can do a lot to a person,
It can, as someone said,
Put the brain slowly to sleep;
It can stop speech,
And it can stymie body action,
But it cannot kill love,
For love has its own independent glow
And it shines so that you know
that the glow will always seep
through the darkness
of disease.

— — — — —

Image Credit: All images from Clip Art