How handsome, deft and strong you were in daring youth.
How clear and clever you thought and ably spoke.
You walked with grace and poise amidst all other folk;
Your person brought a sense of thoughtful, stolid truth.
But time has delivered a most unwelcome guest,
Who slowly breaks your mind and cracks the soul;
Where memories default and logic grasps a loosening hold,
As tiny plaques invade your brain for reasons barely guessed?
Blazing fires become embers and embers become ashes;
Hollow sadness and aching recall of joyful times past.
Confused look and vacant stare that linger on and last;
Fading light in gathering darkness … rare, reminiscent flashes.
Is this how it ends and how you leave?
Stricken by protracted illness, deftly mutilated, tragically broken?
For those who remember and remain there is little spoken;
But a tired, exhausted, jaded way to grieve.
Chris Dennis (December 2024)
Associate Professor Chris Dennis is a respiratory physician at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. He was Head of the Northern Clinical School from 2014 – June 2021.
His clinical interests include a broad spectrum of respiratory diseases.
He is extensively involved in medical education through the University of Sydney and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.