Some Words

 

I had been her son all my life

                But not all of hers

When she started calling me

                By her brother’s name

                Not my dad’s

                Her bother’s

 

Dead for these past 10 years

 

A stroke will do that to you

                Make you forget what you were saying

                Struggling to find the right

                                                                                You know

                                                                                You know

Word

 

Sometimes the word she found made no sense

Sometimes the sense she had had no

                                                                                Words

 

Frustration grew

We started to believe it must be us

That this strange language meant something

And it did to her

                                                But not to us

 

That last time she touched my hand gently

And said something resembling goodbye

I could see it in her eyes

I didn’t need                                                     

                                                                Words

 

When we came again

She was gone

 

I grieved twice

Once in my own name

And once in the name of her brother

 

I miss her voice

                 I miss her