1. < Caregivers: Dementia

For caregivers of people with dementia - Strength at the Broken Places

Posted by Kim Webb @mrjohnwebb, Oct 28 8:18pm

Strength at the Broken Places

Strength isn’t the force
that carries you through untouched;
it’s the quiet resilience
that emerges in the kitchen at dawn,
the weight of a long night
still settling on your shoulders,
and yet, you rise.
You thought you had to hold everything,
keep it all from falling apart,
but the truth is, you’ve learned
how to carry what breaks
and still find grace.

You imagined there would be answers,
but now you know the power
of holding questions instead.
Strength isn’t the absence of doubt,
but the willingness to move forward
even as you stumble.

It lives in the repeated acts:
the calm voice in the face of confusion,
the gentle hand that helps them remember,
the love that persists
through each forgotten name.

Strength grows not in perfection,
but in the cracks,
where hope faltered
and was rebuilt,
again and again,
shaped by each new morning.

You do not need to be whole
to be powerful,
only present,
willing to be made strong
in the places where the world seems fragile.

There is no map for this,
but there is a truth hidden in the quiet:
what you give each day
is not diminished by weariness.
It is, in fact, made more precious
by the broken places
where your love has taken root,
where it will bloom,
because of, not despite,
the cracks that let it grow.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers: Dementia Support Group.

Mentor
Becky, Volunteer Mentor | @becsbuddy | Oct 28 8:42pm

@mrjohnwebb This just beautiful! Are you the author, Kim ?

REPLY
1 reply
Kim Webb | @mrjohnwebb | Oct 28 8:48pm

My husband was an English Literature major. Poetry was always kind of a thing for us. He and I wrote it and then it was enhanced by Chatgpt. In another life, John would have disdained its use. Now he is just grateful.

REPLY
Kim Webb | @mrjohnwebb | Oct 28 8:51pm

I am happy to have a place here on Connect to share and to learn. The photo is John, myself and our daughters.
REPLY
bobbisedlmayr | @bobbisedlmayr | Oct 29 7:14am

What a beautiful poem. Such meaningful thoughts. So uplifing this morning when needed.

REPLY
Kim Webb | @mrjohnwebb | Oct 29 3:08pm
In reply to @becsbuddy "@mrjohnwebb This just beautiful! Are you the author, Kim ?" + (show)
@becsbuddy

@mrjohnwebb This just beautiful! Are you the author, Kim ?

Jump to this post

I should add that my husband John, was diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia in 2022.

REPLY
Kim Webb | @mrjohnwebb | Oct 29 9:03pm

Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my husband John’s perspective:

The Quiet War Within

The battle stirs inside me,
silent but fierce,
a slow undoing of all I once knew.
No clash of swords,
no enemy to name,
just the steady slipping away
of the self I thought was mine to keep.

But in the stillness of this war,
there is a deeper presence.
I feel it in the spaces between words,
in the quiet moments when your hands
reach for mine.
A love beyond this body,
beyond this mind,
an unspoken knowing that
even as I fade,
something sacred holds me still.

I fight not against the world,
but against the tides inside—
memories washed out to sea,
thoughts pulled into the deep.
Yet I am not lost,
for I am held by more than these fragile thoughts.

Your love—
strong, unwavering,
is the ground beneath my feet.
I feel it in the warmth of your touch,
in the steady rhythm of your breath beside me,
and in those moments of grace
when the storm quiets,
and I remember:
I am loved. I am safe.

I endure not for myself,
but for the love that surrounds me,
for the hands that hold me steady,
for the faces that are still etched
in my soul,
even as my mind lets go.

And when the night closes in,
when the rage and confusion swell,
I turn to you,
to the love that binds us all—
something greater, deeper,
a force that will not break,
no matter how this war ends.

In this quiet war within,
I fight not to win,
but to feel,
to hold close the love
that is my strength,
my comfort,
and the only truth
that endures forever.

REPLY
4 replies
Mentor
Becky, Volunteer Mentor | @becsbuddy | Oct 29 10:33pm
In reply to @mrjohnwebb "Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my..." + (show)
@mrjohnwebb

Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my husband John’s perspective:

The Quiet War Within

The battle stirs inside me,
silent but fierce,
a slow undoing of all I once knew.
No clash of swords,
no enemy to name,
just the steady slipping away
of the self I thought was mine to keep.

But in the stillness of this war,
there is a deeper presence.
I feel it in the spaces between words,
in the quiet moments when your hands
reach for mine.
A love beyond this body,
beyond this mind,
an unspoken knowing that
even as I fade,
something sacred holds me still.

I fight not against the world,
but against the tides inside—
memories washed out to sea,
thoughts pulled into the deep.
Yet I am not lost,
for I am held by more than these fragile thoughts.

Your love—
strong, unwavering,
is the ground beneath my feet.
I feel it in the warmth of your touch,
in the steady rhythm of your breath beside me,
and in those moments of grace
when the storm quiets,
and I remember:
I am loved. I am safe.

I endure not for myself,
but for the love that surrounds me,
for the hands that hold me steady,
for the faces that are still etched
in my soul,
even as my mind lets go.

And when the night closes in,
when the rage and confusion swell,
I turn to you,
to the love that binds us all—
something greater, deeper,
a force that will not break,
no matter how this war ends.

In this quiet war within,
I fight not to win,
but to feel,
to hold close the love
that is my strength,
my comfort,
and the only truth
that endures forever.

Jump to this post

@mrjohnwebb Such beautiful poetry!!

REPLY
jbur | @jbur | Oct 30 5:46am
In reply to @mrjohnwebb "Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my..." + (show)
@mrjohnwebb

Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my husband John’s perspective:

The Quiet War Within

The battle stirs inside me,
silent but fierce,
a slow undoing of all I once knew.
No clash of swords,
no enemy to name,
just the steady slipping away
of the self I thought was mine to keep.

But in the stillness of this war,
there is a deeper presence.
I feel it in the spaces between words,
in the quiet moments when your hands
reach for mine.
A love beyond this body,
beyond this mind,
an unspoken knowing that
even as I fade,
something sacred holds me still.

I fight not against the world,
but against the tides inside—
memories washed out to sea,
thoughts pulled into the deep.
Yet I am not lost,
for I am held by more than these fragile thoughts.

Your love—
strong, unwavering,
is the ground beneath my feet.
I feel it in the warmth of your touch,
in the steady rhythm of your breath beside me,
and in those moments of grace
when the storm quiets,
and I remember:
I am loved. I am safe.

I endure not for myself,
but for the love that surrounds me,
for the hands that hold me steady,
for the faces that are still etched
in my soul,
even as my mind lets go.

And when the night closes in,
when the rage and confusion swell,
I turn to you,
to the love that binds us all—
something greater, deeper,
a force that will not break,
no matter how this war ends.

In this quiet war within,
I fight not to win,
but to feel,
to hold close the love
that is my strength,
my comfort,
and the only truth
that endures forever.

Jump to this post

Many thanks for sharing this gift, this poem, from John. As well as giving insight into his experience with dementia, it is a tribute to your loving care. Blessings to you both.

REPLY
labrown | @labrown | Oct 30 10:23am
In reply to @mrjohnwebb "Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my..." + (show)
@mrjohnwebb

Lest we forget how this terrible disease impacts the person with dementia, here’s one from my husband John’s perspective:

The Quiet War Within

The battle stirs inside me,
silent but fierce,
a slow undoing of all I once knew.
No clash of swords,
no enemy to name,
just the steady slipping away
of the self I thought was mine to keep.

But in the stillness of this war,
there is a deeper presence.
I feel it in the spaces between words,
in the quiet moments when your hands
reach for mine.
A love beyond this body,
beyond this mind,
an unspoken knowing that
even as I fade,
something sacred holds me still.

I fight not against the world,
but against the tides inside—
memories washed out to sea,
thoughts pulled into the deep.
Yet I am not lost,
for I am held by more than these fragile thoughts.

Your love—
strong, unwavering,
is the ground beneath my feet.
I feel it in the warmth of your touch,
in the steady rhythm of your breath beside me,
and in those moments of grace
when the storm quiets,
and I remember:
I am loved. I am safe.

I endure not for myself,
but for the love that surrounds me,
for the hands that hold me steady,
for the faces that are still etched
in my soul,
even as my mind lets go.

And when the night closes in,
when the rage and confusion swell,
I turn to you,
to the love that binds us all—
something greater, deeper,
a force that will not break,
no matter how this war ends.

In this quiet war within,
I fight not to win,
but to feel,
to hold close the love
that is my strength,
my comfort,
and the only truth
that endures forever.

Jump to this post

So beautiful. I needed this to remind me how my husband is feeling inside. I know sometimes he has to feel like everything he knows is shifting in the wrong direction. I tell him all the time it’s me and him and we are in this together… but this poem helps me to understand he has fears and he has to know I am his rock, he can always count on me to be there with him on this journey. Thank you for sharing it.

REPLY
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