Aging Vessel
By
Joseph M. Gant
Joseph M. Gant's poetry and fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Breadcrumb Scabs, The Stray Branch, Lines Written w/ a Razor, and others. This poem is dedicated to those whom have faced, or are facing, their last days in the unforgiving grip of Alzheimer's.
I likewise dedicate this to all of the family members of patients who act as caregivers, choosing not to look away despite their own pain and loss, who bravely bear witness to the humanity that remains forever in the heart even as the mind slips away.
The net holes get bigger
The fishes get smaller and
So I go trolling for lost reveries.
In deeper strange waters,
Uncharted and foreign, I push
Hard with a compass of lead.
Lost, yet determined
To what I can't say;
My logbook's all scribbles
And dates the Sun's faded.
Adrift now so long, and
I fear that I may
Look any catch I might find
In the eye . . .
Because I was the catch
Once. I was
The big one – the big one who's gone
And gotten away.
© Joseph M. Gant 2009
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