For anyone with a family member that suffers from Alzheimers or Dementia, one of the hardest things is that the person no longer recognises you. This poignant poem by Joann Snow Duncanson called “Two Mothers Remembered” beautifully sums up the relationship between daughter and mother who can no longer remember her.

Sign up for our free newsletter packed with information and great offers. Or join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Two Mothers Remembered
by Joann Snow Duncanson

I had two Mothers – two Mothers I claim
Two different people, yet with the same name.
Two separate women, diverse by design,
But I loved them both because they were mine.

The first was the Mother who carried me here,
Gave birth and nurtured and launched my career.
She was the one whose features I bear,
Complete with the facial expressions I wear.

She gave me her love, which follows me yet,
Along with the examples in life that she set.
As I got older, she somehow younger grew,
And we’d laugh as just Mothers and daughters should do.

But then came the time that her mind clouded so,
And I sensed that the Mother I knew would soon go.
So quickly she changed and turned into the other,
A stranger who dressed in the clothes of my Mother.

Oh, she looked the same, at least at arm’s length,
But now she was the child and I was her strength.
We’d come full circle, we women three,
My Mother the first, the second and me.

And if my own children should come to a day,
When a new Mother comes and the old goes away,
I’d ask of them nothing that I didn’t do.
Love both of your Mothers as both have loved you.