The Worst Disease

She’s lost between pages,

her words swept away by the forgetting disease.

Highways hang from her neck like heavy scarves.

Rivers stop cold at her feet.

“One can forget an umbrella,” she used to say,

“and still go walking in the rain.  You’ll just get wet.”

Now she’s misplaced her own name

and she’s at a dark window looking in.

The wet socks in her hand confuse her.

If only she could recall why she’s on the run

in this world filled with strangers.

--Mitchell Hegman