The Alzheimer's Wing
      By JoHannah P. Green

Thief!
I cry.
Unheard. Unheeded.
Stealthy stealer,
who robs me of
my songs, my mountains,
my nights under the stars
My courage.
My freedom.
My words.
Who has given you
the keys to the treasure room
of all I remember -
my name, my friends, my love
the comfort of my happy nights?
You leave me sitting
without the warm fires
of my saucy self - my raucous youth.
Sitting,
listening
to the hollow whistle
of an Inner Wind,
scattering, like ashes,
all I have ever been.