Darkness falls

DARKNESS FALLS

H. W. Bryce

Sitting there watching the darkness

Slowly descending for a soft

Landing on the earth,

The soft scent of late decaying

Leaves tickle

The nostrils to the distant

Musical hoot of the wise looking old

Night owl…our friend the owl.

 

When she lands, she spreads

Like a fog, embracing all. No street

Light here, only lantern light

for the milking, evening chores,

Then settle on the porch

With a cooling drink, tune in

To the evening Concert of the Night,

Frogs. Hooty owl, Swish of early fly catchers

And late bats. Syncopated, all in tune,

All to the gentle touch of darkness

Upon the softer cheek.

 

 

Ahhh! Country days, country eves,

Clear skies, milky ways, dreams, dreams,

Dreams. Inspiration from the flashing

Fire flies, brings to mind the scent of

Fireworks at the fair whose soft

Gathered sounds echo in the mind.

 

Night falls, gently as the nightgown

Upon her lady of the house, candle

Holder leading her to prayer.

 

We carve patterns in the darkness

As we make our way about; we make

Friends of the night, our abiding friend,

In refreshing sleep.

Darkness.

Good nigh

t– —

And peace to the Alzheimer’s stricken.

And peace to the Alzheimer’s stricken.

IMAGE from Pixabay

#alzheimer‘s #dementia

For families traveling the Alzheimer’s journey, read

CHASING A BUTTERFLY

Available from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

Thank you.

Posted in Alzheimer's, Care Giving, Dementia, Games, Kids, Memories, Poem, Remembering | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When we were kids

 

When we were kids

When We Were Kids

H. W. Bryce

When we were kids,

We played cowboys and outlaws.

We had cap guns

And we shot at each other,

Hiding, running, shooting!

“Gotcha. Yer dead!”

“No yuh didn’. Yuh missed by a mile.”

“Nah, I gotcha. You gotta fall down dead!”

 

Another kid to that kid, “Bang!

I gotcha. Teach yuh not tuh hide!”

 

And that kid’d shoot back and

Somebody else’d sneak up

And shoot us both,

 

So we all fell down and writhed

In the dirt

to the joyous sounds of

BANG! BANG! BANG! Bang!

“Gotcha. Yer dead, Yuh dirty rat!”

“Fall down yer dead!”

BANG BANG BANG!

 

Until our mothers called out:

“Supper!”

And we all holstered our guns

And ran home to roast beef and gravy

Without so much as a g’bye.

 

And we carried on like this

Till we became teenagers.

Then we went down to the rink

And played hockey.

Donnie played goal,

And I was on the wing.

 

— —

 

I don’t know. I was just thinking back to Ann and how ALZ might be thought of as having been shot in the head…to wouldn’t it be good if we could shoot that brain with some sort of super laser beam to heal that brain…to some kind of a shootout…to something like when we were kids…

And if we could bring mommy back…

So maybe we could grow out of our playing-with-guns obsession.

Like, Time To Grow Up!

 

Yes, guns kill. They are the instruments that carry out the act.

No, guns are not to blame. That is on the people who make the guns do the killing.

Ergo: Guns kill but they are only carrying out orders.

Ergo: People are killers.

 

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

#alzheimer’s    #dementia

Available from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

Thank you.

Posted in Alzheimer's, Dementia, Friends, Games, Kids, Memories, Poem, Remembering | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

pic for  don't need no drugs

DON’T NEED NO DRUGS

Written while watching Sutton Foster, Live from Lincoln Centre,
singing John Denver’s Sunshine Almost Always Makes Me High

 

Don’t need no drugs

’Cause you being here gives me a high

Don’t need artificial stimulants

’Cause when you smile, I’m high

 

The trees in the forest

The moon in the sky

A walk in the park

Always gives me a high

 

Time with my pet

Time reciting poems

Time on a picnic with a friend

These things give me such a high

 

Don’t need no drug

Don’t have to take a pill

No need to shoot up to get high

No need to snort a line

’Cause I am feelin’ just fine

Just being alive gives me

Such a natural high

 

Oh, sure, I get downright blue sometimes

And sometimes I get a little sad

But then I take a deep, deep breath

And I remember     …     your smile

And I accept this, this is normal

And I know the blues will pass

Before I draw another breath.

 

For life is all a kind of a natural high

And I don’t need no damn drugs to get me high!

Cause I’m just high on life

H.W. Bryce

#alzheimer #dementia

…for people touched with Alzheimer’s, hang on to the natural highs, you can feel the natural highs and lows in Chasing a Butterfly:

https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

IMAGE from Pixabay

Posted in About Drugs, Advocacy, Alzheimer's, Care Giving, Decisions, Poem, Tags | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

 

image for Always After the Fact

ALWAYS AFTER THE FACT

Always after the fact comes the sorry.
Always after the angry words comes the sorry.
Always after the back-sliding comes the sorry,
And it’s always after the divorce comes the sorry.

Comes the sorry too late to fix the hurt,
Spoken in haste the words can’t be unheard.
After the death, and after the funeral,
After the time to make things right, comes the sorry.

After the damage is done, the friendship gone,
After the moment slips by to retort with a kind word,
After you forgot to zip the lip and you say you were wrong,
Always, after the fact comes the sorry.

Why is the hurt always a never-ending story?
Why is it always after the fact comes the sorry?

–H. W. Bryce

And for you Alzheimer’s Care Givers, remember that it isn’t you, it’s the disease. Forgive yourself and carry on as best you can. Gather help and find some Me Time.

#Alzheimer‘s #Dememntia

https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

IMAGE: https://pixabay.com/en/depression-sadness-man-2912424/

Posted in Advocacy, Alzheimer's, Care Giving, Caring, Poem, Remorse | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

 

picture for Calling All Care Givers

CALLING ALL CAREGIVERS

H. W. Bryce

Commiserations shared

With all who have ever cared

For a loved one who needed love and care.

 

You’ve learned more about how

And you are much stronger now,

Inner strength with faith from above…

 

Gather rounds and give a hug

To each other, share a mug,

Lend each other strength it’s not a crime so carry on.

 

It’s for the sake of them,

For in our lives they are the gem,

For they have carried on for all this time.

 

So here’s the call to you

You are strong enough and true,

And we will celebrate you in the flesh and spirit…

 

And we will carry on refreshed,

And we’ll feel truly blessed,

And toss the feeling we’ve been pressed.

 

Forgive yourself your fears,

Wipe away your tears,

For now you are doing much better than you think.

 

There is strength here in our numbers,

Optimism always disencumbers,

You know how to make your loved one feel so in the pink.

#Alzheimer‘s #dementia

TO READ ONE CARE GIVER’S POETIC EXPERIENCE, GO TO
https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

image from Pixabay

Posted in Advocacy, Advocate, Alzheimer's, author site, Being there, Care Giving, Caring, Memories, Poem | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

 

A Letter to My Younger Self

picture for A Letter to My younger Self

A LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF

H. W. Bryce

Write a letter to your younger self, they said.
I had never thought of that.
My younger self had moved on.
But here’s what I might have said:

Learn to be great, at what ever you to do –
But make it legal, and right, and good.
Be helpful, not hurtful, be open and true,
Live like you know that’s how your mother would.

Do nothing that would make you regret.
Do no murder and tell you no lies,
And never waste money on dumb losing bets,
But always shine like a summer’s blue skies.

Be persistent, hard working, consistent, be a good host,
Be open but guarded, shun shadow, choose sun,
And don’t ever think of giving up on the ghost,
And, above all, don’t you forget to have fun.

Darn! I shoulda listened better!

If I could only go back in time…

…maybe I should give him some how-tos

And keep off the railroad tracks…
And never go swimming alone…
And wear sunscreen and sunglasses…
Change your socks every day…
And always wear clean underwear…
Just in case…

Be kind to the beggars, take care of your elders…
Never a borrower be, avoid all the lenders…
Be careful in love and be ever tender –
And don’t even think of bending a fender…

And be good at what you do…
Oh, did I say?
Please, just, take care of yourself, son…

— —

Remembering the early days with Ann.

#alzheimer #dementia

You can read more of my poetry at

https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Butterfly-H-W-B…/…/1460299345

Such as “Courage” and “Kill ’em All”

PHOTO from Pixabay

Posted in Advocate, Alzheimer's, Author, Caring, Memories, Poem, Remembering | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Breakthrough Poem

 

Now appearing in important magazine

Flamenco Dreams

picture for Flamenco Girl

A Poem by Herb Bryce

She lit the flame in flamenco,
His feet were a flurry,
Her castanets clattered
A frantic sweet rhythm and
His heart matched her hot beat.
They were exotics,
Built of the human kind and
They danced in the caves
By that Spanish old town—
Just outside the Alhambrah
With its lace patterned walls
And oh so reflective old pool…

And she takes a rest
Between their dance shows,
Having reaped a good harvest
Of tips, which they share.

And she reflects upon
Her dance days, and she dreams
Of an easier life. But she
Is a beauty and much in demand
And she wants to be left all alone,
For she isn’t ready to share
Her body with the bawdy
Crowd out and about.

And her mother does worry
That she won’t become
A bride to a good and rich man.

For she has a mind of her own
And she dreams of herself
Running away to
Work in a town in a country
That is far, far away.
She has poems to write
And songs that she sings
When she can be all alone
With her Self.

And she yearns to visit that Moorish old
Castle up there on the hill,
And to sit by the side of that pool,
For surely that pool,
That reflective old pool,
Would reflect her own pensive musings,
And the lace of the walls
Would link with her fingers
Of dreams that also reflect
The lacy pattern hand stitched into
Her revered good luck mantilla.

But, as she leaned against the grey plaster wall,
Head to the side and hand on the hip,
Still poised in the posture of dance,
The call came again, it was time
To go out on that old cave floor
and dance for the tourists once more.

Flamenco Dreams, as it appears in the current issue of Neworld Review magazine. My thanks to publisher Fred Beauford.

You can read more poetry by H. W. Bryce, and support the fight against Alzheimer’s at Friesen Press: http://bit.do/ewADf
or Amazon: http://bit.do/ewABN

#Alzheimer’s     #dementia

IMAGE: Painting by John Fernandes. Permission applied for. Found in Pinterest.

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