I stand still
and watch a person
walk away from me.
She grows smaller and smaller
until she reaches
the Vanishing Point.
She has not vanished
from the planet
or from herself.
She has vanished
only from my view.
If I move toward her
she reaches her vanishing point
more slowly.
If I move away from her
she reaches it sooner.
The vanishing
at the vanishing point
however
is an illusion.
The person with dementia exists
beyond my capacity
to keep her in my line of sight.
She remains a person,
despite my limited powers of vision.
For most of us
our vanishing will occur slowly
and may mercifull give us time
to gather willing assistents
who know the illusoriness
of disappearance.
[Uit]
On Vanishing. Mortality, Dementia and what it means to Disappear
by Lynn Casteel Harper
[Afbeelding]
Annie Leibovitz
@Komt U Dansen?
Dansen met mensen met dementie.
