​TENDERLY

​She does not brush the crumbs
tenderly
from her father’s suit,
she does not speak
reverently,
in fact,
she offers him a biscuit
and takes one herself.
 
She ties his shoelaces
quickly, with an eye
on the state of his socks
and does not tread gently
across the dozing room
or hold back the day -
allows the light to break in,
cheerful, uncompromising.
 
She does not refrain
from telling him
what he has forgotten,
but listens
to every song he sings
and learns the words
so that their voices rise
together. 



​Winner, 'Change' category, Alzheimer's Society Dementia Poetry Competition 2019.