The Memory Thief

A dancer, mother, grandmother, and friend, A wife and musician, searching souls to mend. Seventy years of serving, loving, and teaching. Working, laughing, and faithfully reaching. Never saw him coming, so unprepared. All her life hoping, somehow, to be spared. But come, he did, without remorse. He dragged her down that one-way course. He stole her mind, her heart, her smile. He left her empty, a memory on trial. Eyes that once sparkled, now shadows of fear. A laugh once so easy, no more can we hear. No cure, no help, no happy summation. A woman turned child for the dreadful duration. One year painfully turns to ten. No hint left of who she'd once been. A memory thief, with an unyielding knife. He took her mind; he stole her life.