Amalgam

The Caregiver Poet

My husband was my rock,

my beloved, my protector.

As he fades into dementia,

I have taken on the tasks

he used to handle so well.

And as he lays down

habits of thought and

ways of behaving,

I find that I am picking those up

as well—

characteristics that I admired,

That became the poetry

of our life.

Now that he is gone—

not in body, but in the man he was

I am new, an amalgam

of our life together

In this quiet alchemy,

I’m finding my new voice:

part his, part mine,

all love.

Commemoration.

Cloudia Charters