Читать книгу Notes From the Dementia Ward - Finuala Dowling - Страница 7

Where Google has not been

I have asked so much of the Internet:

‘Is it true what I once saw as a child –

an umbrella hoisted high in the mass?’

‘What are the traits of a zebra?’

‘Who or what is a senior wrangler?’

‘Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul

when hot for certainties in this our life!

– Who said that?’

And I have found such answers

along its fast electric autobahns:

Meredith! Pugnacious! Odd-toed!

The opposite of a wooden spoon!

A processional canopy was what you saw –

holy things must be covered!

I grew sick of Google’s cleverness

and I grew sly. And so I asked:

Where is Farrah Fawcett-Majors now?

Why won’t my mother die?

Can we hasten death?

And Google said:

Try to limit the number of difficult situations

your loved one has to face.

Distract her from her hallucinations

by engaging her in a pleasurable activity.

Caring for someone with dementia

can be very rewarding.

On another page Google offered

a photographic view of a vulva

but I have a thousand places inside

where Google has never been.