Alzheimer's

I wanted to say that he just showed up the night before to cheer me up but he called first. In that soft, treading lightly tone which fears rejection he asked if he could drop by; I told him I had a lot of work to do.
He said he would let me do it. After all, he had to be at work at seven in the morning.
I knew it wouldn't end there but still, I told him it was okay.

It didn't end there. He wanted to remember what it felt like to kiss me.
He wanted to know if it would be different after he had kissed another boy.
(He blamed me for not telling him it would be)
How could he understand that  your loved one becomes a little less sacred,
more of just a body which you still love and cherish above all others,
if he was so hell-bent on doing things for himself.
Is this what it is like to have a child?
To watch them walking down your path,
knowing that no matter what you say,
it won't kill their desire
until they've done it. 

I could have sworn I warned him,
but that's the thing with dealing with someone who forgets.
Progress? Digression.

Not everything gets lost, you've only gotten off at a new platform.
Perhaps that is just as good.
 
After all, who knows where life will leave you in the end?