'Who are You?' - He looked at me and asked with widened eyes ---
Well, I'm your wife of many years - Don't act as though surprised!!
He studied me again, and said: 'Who are You?' - Don't delay
I do not recognize a thing in all you've had to say....

Do you come here to take my hand and care for me, so dear ---
Or are you around to frighten me and cause my heart to fear?
I looked at him, this man I'd known for almost all my life ---
The man who'd raised two children - Worked hard, and loved his wife.

Within his eyes, I saw the truth - No longer could he hide ---
He really doesn't know me now although I'm by his side!!
I ask for God to strengthen me for all which lies ahead ---
To heal the stabbing pains I feel inside my heart and head.

I'd always thought the cruelest words to one, could ever be said
Were: 'I don't love you anymore' - But I found out instead
The hardest words to ever hear - That break your heart in two...
Are not born out of cruelty.... But innocence
And ask: 'Who are You?'

Copyright © 2000 Dorothy Womack
Used by permission of the author.

In helping others on the Internet through e-mail, discussion
lists, and chats, Dorothy has met many who have spouses with Alzheimer's,
and she feels deeply for them, as do I. I have often said that was the
thing that hurt the most--when my mother no longer knew me, and yes, her
innocent question "Who Are You?" broke my heart into, but I think that
it must be even more so for those who have spouses with Alzheimer's.
Dorothy's book Passage into Paradise is on her
website at: http://www.geocities.com/womack47/passage.html
and now is available from iUniverse as well, along with Alzheimer's Angels,
her book of poems, and three other books (see below).
Dorothy is a writer for http://www.caregiver.com/
and her articles can also be found in the
Alzheimer's Articles section of A Year to Remember.
Email Dorothy at: womack47@charter.net
You can find all of Dorothy's books by clicking on the covers below: