This is a prayer for all of us who are sinking into woeful depths in the care of a loved one with Alzheimer's or a related dementia. I hope it will serve as a reminder in this season...


Teach us never to forget.

When temptations’ barbs sink deep, snagging us short of the path of true obedience,
when weariness of plodding weighs eyelids shut as we should watch and pray,
when parched throats thirst for savory sips of self indulgence
over bitter broth of sacrifice,

Teach us never to forget.

When those whom we name friends fall back into the crowd of callous calls,
when shouldered weight of woes breaks down our crumbling frame
toward bruising cobblestone,
when, in wearied haze, seeking encouragements’ words from those who line our path,
instead we’re sprayed with venom from their lips,

Teach us never to forget.

When flickering lives of loved ones fade e’en as we hold their candles close,
when brooding stormy atmosphere steals hope breaths yet to be drawn
through ambient gloom,
when disease’s dire hand wields ceaseless body blows,
doubling us down in defeat,
or wraps its wiry fingers ‘round ones with whom we’ve shared life’s best,
to win from out our grasp, from out our soul its better half,

Teach us never to forget…

That you’ve walked the lonesome valley of our lives through barb-like snags,
prayed without ceasing through parched throat which thirsted like ours,
chosen sacrificial cup o’er flask of your own making,
suffered reproach of foe and friend alike,
fallen beneath timbers’ weight on the path to your life’s goal,
wept from depth of soul as Death laid claim to dear ones,
laid hands upon the sores scratched out by fingers of affliction;

And, through all this mire of life’s low roads,
have peaked upon the pristine Everest of our humanity
in garments white,
reaching low to lift us from our sinking muck
to stand in radiance next to you
forevermore.