Evanescience

(For Heather Hubler's "Unscramble" Challenge which you may read about here: unscramble-challenge.)

*a*

.

The vane of my vanity

is fickle,

wafting first this way,

then that,

coursing through my veins

like fire & ice,

burning & immobilizing,

just beyond my grasp.

.

*b-*

.

The science

of plaque

sieve of my nescience,

eScience of neurons

unable quite

to communicate

since

evens

have become

odds

& navies

no longer navigate

the naves

of my mind.

.

*+c@*

.

Veni,

(I come)

bogged in the vances

(old English “marshes”)

unable to vince

(that is, “conquer”)

or evince naught

but confusion

& nascence of naught.

.

*%&d#*

.

Nine or six

vans

scattered in the drive

(worn on my feet?)

seven as a verb

means what again?

Nein!

vain is my effort to

vise any

thought

as evanescience

(is that even a word? Am I insane?)

forms the eaves of my mind

in the eves of my….

.

*$!e=)*

.

Breakfast?

Yes, please.

*****

“Evanescience” is a word I created when Heather reminded me that my favorite word (“evanescence”) only has eleven letters. With the meaning of “the fading of one’s own memory” ascribed by me to it, Heather granted me permission to use it.

Originally, I simply planned to have some fun with it. But as I entered into this writing, I began to flash back to the summer I spent working in a nursing home as an orderly & subsequently in my ministry to all those with whom I worked who were suffering from Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

In the nursing home there was one resident who only one aide was consistently able to get up & ready in the morning. The first time I tried, I failed miserably. The next morning the nurses had me follow & assist that one aide. All she did was say to him, “It’s time for breakfast, Roy. Do you want to get up?” He shook his head furiously, so she went to his roommate & helped him get ready for the day. By the time she had finished, Roy was climbing the rail to his bed, eager to rise. He absolutely loved breakfast.

She had simply taken the time to learn that & treated him with respect as a human being, as we all should.

After that morning, there were two of us who could get him up in the morning. And I had learned an invaluable lesson as I prepared to head into ministry.