Phyllis Jeanette Sellers

Will I know when you go?
Will I feel the loss of your soul?
I lie here and it’s so hard to know
I’m losing you with each breath that flow

I can’t sleep, I feel death too near
I wonder is it death you fear?
Or leaving the ones who are here
Loved ones that you hold so dear

Oh mother I knew you so very well
And Alzheimer’s put you threw hell
Somewhere in that place you chose to dwell
You were always there if we’d ring the right bell

You handled this disease with such charm and grace
For so many years no one even noticed it in your face
You were wise enough to know when to smile in the right place
Those close to you knew your mind was being ravaged and erased

You never seemed to take the news all that bad
Until the very end we never even saw you be sad
You just lived for one day at a time and seemed so glad
Eternally grateful to God giving me the gracious mother I had

Those of you who have parents who are growing old
Remember who kept you warm when you could have been cold
Keep in mind the love you give the children that you have and hold
And remember that your parents love was once too on you bestowed

My sister gave up seven years of her life to care for her mother
Oh yes it was very hard and so many times a terrible bother
"I need to work" is a good excuse to put them in one home or another
Do you think your child could do that to you, their own father or mother?

My sister would say it was worth every ounce of her hardship and pain
She gave up so much but it was always our own mother that stood to gain
We valued her like the precious gem she was her request was home she remain
We made the difference in the quality of her life it was her spirit we sustain

Alzheimer’s disease stole my mother’s mind but that same heart was still in there
Through such simple things we learned that we had still so much yet to share
We took her everywhere with us like nothing was wrong, she didn’t seem to care
She loved music, sun, pretty flowers, animals, babies, fat folks she loved fresh air

If mom were in a nursing home there is so much we would have missed and lost
The laughs and smiles shared over such silly things she did just don’t have a cost
In nursing homes unfamiliar with surroundings or just the pain of being tossed
They retreat inside, so afraid, they freeze up and a warm heart turns to frost

We are so proud of our father who was there for all of us from the very start
The love he had for our mother while he fed her each meal with a tender heart
In this life you can take that yellow lemon make it sweeter or let it stay tart
In loyalty, a sweet love story, my dad stayed beside Mom "until death do we part"