Driftwood

A poem about Alzheimers

I've dined at the table of kings
And bled in the trenches of France
Morphine infected the nightmares
We've paid for our sins in advance

Memories scattered in landscapes
like driftwood on tides of remorse
I painted the sky with salvation
And seasons would run their course

Mary should shine like a sunrise
Over oceans where rain never falls
The flowers of heaven's creation
Grow silent behind merciless walls

She wants to converse with Jesus
Her faith was the balance of grace
Mirrored in fractured reflection
We shared every wound on that face

Concealed by white picket fences
Where memories unravel like thread
I blame these little infractions
On the revenant trapped in my head

Now Judas is haunting the garden
where lilac and baby's breath grow
I save only this tintype of Mary
She's sleeping in peace down below

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