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Review #4764524
Viewing a review of:
Remember Today  [13+]
a wife's reality as she slowly loses her husband to dementia
by Lizzie
Review of Remember Today  
Review by LightinMind
In affiliation with WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group  
Rated: 13+ | (4.5)
Access:  Public | Hide Review (?)
Hello, Lizzie . This is a review of "Remember Today"  by invitation from "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" ! *Smile* I have the following comments to offer.

*Quill*Reader Experience

A wife shares how she is slowly losing her husband to dementia.


*Quill*Commentary

What a beautiful sorrowful poem. Some 10% of people will suffer from Dementia and although with better understanding and healthcare this percentage is declining an aging global population increases the numbers. In this poem a wife who married "for better or worse, in sickness or health..." keeps her vows to her husband and cares for him even as he forgets her and the life that they shared. She is the perfect caregiver motivated by love, not greed. One of those hidden saints that the world does not reward nor esteem but who are rich in heavenly treasures.

A major feature of the poem is the reorientation of the author's perception of time from the future to the present and past. Occasional glimpses of the man whom her husband once was may brighten her day before he disappears into the fog once more. But the future is no longer a broad open horizon.

"Sometimes, tomorrow doesn't come...progress is despairing rain"

There is much to be celebrated in this poem. In an age of divorce and marriage breakup, the poem speaks of an enduring connection between two people. The husband never betrays the wife and the wife remains loyal enduring the terrible agony of his loss as he slips away. He has the better deal here as he slips away in blissful ignorance of the suffering he leaves behind. They sit quietly in the moment, together in a romantic bubble, while the quality of that is degraded by time and age. There is a personal tragedy here but also a witness to the best of marriages and to a commitment sadly lacking in many others.

Being a religious person I could understand the agony of the loss and also the commitment of the wife but thought the poem was also too trapped inside the immediacy of the experience. There will be a resurrection, a restoration and so the horizon remains open to eternity and there is never a reason for despair. There is a wider community and family here that can share the pain and it need not be all on the woman. Like Abraham gave up the son he loved, to sacrifice, so also we sometimes must give up the things we have clung to our whole lives to receive them back again, all shiny and new. God is the great repair man but we need to trust Him for the people we love. We all die but shall all be raised some to eternal life and some to the other place.


*Quill*Mechanical issues

This was a freeverse structured around the thoughts expressed in individual sentences.

Strictly speaking, progress is seen in a positive vein, not as one- so this line needs altering:

Progress is seen as [in] a positive vein


Thanks for sharing.

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   *CheckG* You responded to this review 07/20/2024 @ 8:55am EDT
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