No
longer he rises to greet her as wife
Though
they have been married for most of her
life.
She longs to embrace him and say, “I
love you.”
But who is this stranger? He has
not a clue.
For years he’s regressed to
the state he’s now in;
She tries to remember,
“When did it begin?”
Her job on the Court, so
demanding each day,
Meant there were more
times when she must be away.
At last it was clear John would
need better care;
The Alzheimer’s wing was an
answer to prayer.
He no longer noticed ‘twas
Sandra who came
To visit him daily; he knew
not her name.
On one of her visits, a
patient walked in,
She hugged and kissed
John, asked him how he had been.
“This is my
girlfriend,” John said to his wife.
“She said
she would love me the rest of my
life.”
And Sandra O’Connor, with arms
opened wide
Said hello to John’s girlfriend
but inside she cried.
The man whom she
married a long time ago
Had long since
forgotten; she knew it was
so.
She watched as the couple held
hands and they kissed
Not knowing that these
were the things Sandra missed.
God gave
understanding to Sandra that day:
The love
John once gave her was all gone away.
On
each of her visits, she held them both
tight
And told them their love was a
beautiful sight.
For John had a new love; her
eyes brightly shown
And Sandra would love her
like she was her own.
Each time
Sandra visited, John called her “friend.”
She
knew it’d be hard but she vowed to
pretend.
Though John may not know her the
rest of his life,
In heaven he’ll tell her,
“You once were my wife.”
