Shirley

I saw you in my dreams,
you became my life.
I courted and I loved you
you became my heart.
We loved each other.
Soon you were with child,
a child that was meant to be.
We married deep in love,
what more in life can be. 
The years that followed,
busy married bliss for you and me,
five children you bore me.
Two sons and three daughters,
our life complete.
Our family,
they were ‘all’ for me!
They grew and left,
and we still found,
each other’s love,
our life complete,
our love enough;
Until this moment came….
I sat there stunned.
Unbelieving, frozen and in fear.
For you my love,
the one I held most dear.
I knew that things were different now.
I found it hard to cope.
I tried to help and to do,
whatever you wanted of me.
Now the stark, horrible reality,
that you had left me.
To travel on into the tragedy.
That word,
that word I cannot define.
What it is for you to have,
Dementia.