the long goodbye

by Kara Dunford

She forgets where she is,

calls out for parents long dead: 

trapped in a mind that makes her husband—

her companion in a love story written over sixty-five years—

a mere stranger. Watch as she fades before our eyes, 

the jewelry box of memory

now tarnished by a film of rust. Soon perhaps, 

even the most precious heirlooms,

the rich sentiments she robed herself in 

to feel beautiful in this world, 

will have lost their sparkle.

When “I love you, darling”

dulls to 

“Is it time for lunch?”

Kara Dunford is a writer and nonprofit communications professional living in Washington, DC. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Dalloway and Brave Voices Magazine. Find her on Twitter @kara_dunford.