Cruelty has been given a new definition –

When a mind so capable and so beautiful,

Dies agonizingly slowly and piece by piece.

What was a source for inspiration atrophies,

Memories dim and eventually disappear,

The once vital, vibrant now needy, immobile,

Revered patriarch forced into second childhood.

One by one, loved ones receive bitter rejection,

They’ve become forgotten strangers to the stricken.

Relentless march across the mind shows no respect,

As it steals not just all mental capacity,

But the very essence of its latest victim,

Who they are and all that has ever made them them,

Slowly fades to be hidden behind a blank mask.

Long before the end can arrive to grant relief,

The light, signs of life have completely left their eyes.

An ending could surely not come too quickly now,

The mind has ceased and the body is following,

All that is left now is…