Now the incidents that made you wonder
and fear --
the slips of mind, memory, tongue --
coalesce into an overpowering force
behind the words this physician is speaking,
words that propel you across a threshold
into a future you hoped you would never inhabit.

The doctor’s words have gone silent
since the first mention of the name,
the label for your unique brand of dementia.
Your ears hear the drone of language and voice,
but meaning is lost in a tidal wave of shock and denial.

Though you feel yourself disappearing,
retreating from a mind boggling threat,
You are here.
You are here.
You are still here.

And after you walk through this doorway
into your newly named life
may you know in all the recesses of your being
that you are light.
You are light.
You will always be light.

The darkness that you fear
will never diminish your light.

The room you are entering
beyond this doorway
has many obstacles over which you will stumble,
many confusing corridors into which you will wander.
You will often feel lost.

But this room also has windows to let in light
when you most need to see,
and little adornments that can make you smile,
and doors through which love can come to stand with you
and hold your hand
and bless the light within you,
so even in this darkest of rooms, you will shine.