Re-Winding Memories
Beeching has been at work in her brain.
Branch lines are closing. No train
of thought as tracks disappear
in a tangled undergrowth where,
tearful, she loses hold of time.
"I must get back down the main line
before the wrong sort of memories
cause wheels to lose their grip.
I'm sliding back to nowhere fast.
Wasn’t I your mother once?"
How can she get back home
when connections are closed?
Agree with SM. The two-pronged approach adds to
the poignancy of the situation.
Our memories, certainly those of a certain generation, are inextricably linked with the
railways - and the concept of the tracks of our
memories (down memory lines, so to speak) and the
loss of both is most imaginative.
Love the mix of railway metaphors with Alzheimer's. Seems oddly fitting somehow.
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Harry O'Neill
Mon 16th Dec 2013 23:09
I like the way this tangled rail-track web ofmetaphore mirrors those web-like pictures of the brain threads that they show, and the `Beeching` reference. Together with the wheels losing their grip and `sliding back` it is alla solid and poetically apt representation ofAlzheimers.
As an example of using the ordinary words of a past even to express the sadness and sense of loss of a present illness it is excellent.