The Serenity Prayer
God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Caregiver
Blessed are they
who understand
my faltering step and
shaking hand.
Blessed, who know
my ears today
must strain to catch the
things they say.
Blessed are they
who seem to know
my eyes are dim and
my mind is slow.
Blessed are they
who looked away,
I spilled my tea on
the cloth that day!
Blessed are
they who, with cheery smile,
stopped
to chat for a little while.
Blessed
are they who know the way
to bring back
memories of yesterday.
Blessed are
they who never say,
“You’ve
told that story twice today!”
Blessed
are they who make it known
that I’m
loved, respected and not alone.
And
blessed are they who will ease the days
of
my journey home, in loving ways.
Another Beatitude
By
Elizabeth Clark
To My Children
An Anonymous Poem
When I spill some food on my nice clean dress
Or maybe forget to tie my shoe,
Please be patient
and perhaps reminisce
About the many hours I spent with you.
When I taught you how to eat with care,
Plus
tying laces and your numbers, too,
Dressing yourself and combing your hair,
Those were precious hours spent with
you.
So when I forget what I was about to say,
Just give me a minute - or maybe two.
It probably wasn't
important anyway,
And I would much rather listen just to you.
If I tell the story one more time,
And
you know the ending through and through,
Please remember your first nursery rhyme
When I rehearsed it a hundred
times with you.
When my legs are tired and it's hard to stand
Or walk the steady pace that I would like to
do,
Please take me carefully by my hand,
And guide me now as I once did for you.
Holding Opposites
By CJ
As I have written in other
places on this web site, I have a love-hate relationship with poetry. Saccharine poetry rings insincere to me yet I have
found comfort in some verses. Taking care of a loved one is rewarding and challenging. Both of these statements demonstrate
the emotional roller coaster ride of family care giving: joy and sorrow, passion and indifference, faith and despair, or loving
the family member while hating the situation.
For me, the experience of care giving required me to practice holding opposites: A gray neutral area
was born that gave me the capacity to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty about my feelings and my loved one's condition. When we accept that we are imperfect, we realize that we are capable of both positive
and negative thinking about the same person or situation. By acknowledging the natural light side/dark side of our dual natures,
we stop sabotaging our own efforts and learn to be compassionate with others and with ourselves. We are only human after all.
To
read more caregiver poetry, please visit The Ribbon.com.
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