The greatest of these is love

My mother is now non-ambulatory and largely non-verbal.

When she does speak it is usually very soft,

and she does not articulate well enough to be understood.

We now have to feed her most of the time.

She isn't eating much.

My father tries to get her to eat, kisses her and calls her pet names.

He carries her to her chair, the bathroom, the bed.

She hallucinates much of the time, quietly now,

but otherwise is still self-aware and knows who we are.

I say "Hello, Mama, I love you!"

and am rewarded with a smile, a murmured "I love you too, darling"

that is only just recognizable.

This is all she has, now.

It is true, that 'the greatest of these is love'.

In the end, when everything else has gone, my mother still has love.

It's the only thing in her life that has lasted

and pretty much the only part of her that we can hold on to.

I see the world differently now.