Forgotten

Forgotten
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

As the weary woman, her body bowed with age,
Rocks ever slowly in endless motion,
Misty memories tiptoe
Through her muddled mind.
A soft girlish giggle, a boy's shy smile
Evoke vague recollections
While reality flees,
Leaving confusion in its wake.

Past events become twisted, people polluted
By plots never by her lived,
Until what she believes
Never was nor could be true.
The wrinkled, sunken face
Displays eyes dimmed with delusion.
While the world continues,
She pines in her mental prison.

Voices plea, begging for her return,
But her mind hides behind illusion.
Faces once so dear become masks
She refuses to recognize,
Fearing pain where none exists,
Forgetting all who love her.
Her life has become a nightmare
That only death will end.