March 12, 1988, I married Suzanne Fisher. The Devil grew jealous. Darkness struck, Early Onset Alzheimer’s struck. She died on March 12, 2019, our 21st anniversary. (Suzanne long, long ago as a baby)
SUZANNE
By Mary O’Dell
When I learn of her going, I grow still,
pondering the ache of her sickness,
how it spilled onto him, her husband,
and onto their son, whose name I don’t recall.
I remember how her vague eyes sparkled and lit,
how her lips curved in a smile
when my old cat climbed on the sofa
and crept easy on her lap,
how she reached to stroke the black fur.
How for a moment, she seemed back inside herself,
aware of the small life beneath her hand,
this brief connection.
I cannot know the fresh grief of this family
but I measure in kind my own,
and pray for us all.
A small, dark spirit appears now and then
to lure us back to the warm, living world.
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