How silly is it of science
To say that senses are only five!
How insensitive is it of science
To censure those beyond the ken!

Eyes screwed up tightly
Head turned sideways abruptly
Lips clamped firmly
Trying to shut in momentarily.

Would it, please, go away
Images, sounds, the smells,
Words uttered, heard, this sense
Of pain, wrenching my heart?

Time exists only in our minds
In the recesses of memory
Facts of past and fictions of future
Time stands still only for those
Who cannot remember anymore.

Who cannot remember anymore
What it was like to feel the wind
What it was like to smell the flowers
What it was like to watch the dawn
What it was like to love and be loved.

Mother, could you remember, how
It felt when you held me up
The softness of my cheeks, the light
In my eyes that lit up your heart?

What, mother, did you feel
Listening to my gurgling laughter
The smell of my skin, soft
My fingers gripping yours?

Mother, my eyes are squeezed tight
But I still see yours wide open
Staring at the nothingness
That waited, patiently, by your bed.

Time must have stopped for you
Long ago, in the grip of the Disease
For me, now, Time pauses-
Momentarily, waiting for oblivion.

But, then, once in the twilight,
When shadows danced in and out,
You kissed my hand and looked at me
When memory flitted like moonlight
From behind the coconut fronds.

The time has come, mother
For me to give you one last hug
For me to lift you up
For once, first and the very last time.

How silly is it of science
To limit us to the obvious
When waves crash and shatter all
When whimpering, you wait for the next.