Sunday, October 21, 2012

First and Second Childhood


                                                      Seven Ages of Man by William Mulready, 1838
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ( courtesy of d'Verse)

All the world’s a stage of which are enacted
seven parts. Two parts are of uncanny similarity
but paradoxically different. The infant at the
beginning and the second childhood at the end

The infant is helpless, dependent on minders
for every need. But showered with love and affections
bubbly and cute is adored and cuddled in all innocence
Given to many material happiness and wants which are
enjoyed with relish and wanting more

The second childhood is just as dependent on minders
But that’s where it  ends. Exists in misery of dementia
where personal hygiene has gone asunder. Aged and spent
devoid of memory, dehumanized and degrading unkempt
to say the least. A pale shadow of the accomplished
and recognized of old. A planned obsolescence of the
human kind, sans everything!

Why is this so? Is it nature’s way  to ensure those with
debilitating afflictions are accorded the love and affections
due to them just as one is bubbly and cute? ( even though
they are a misery to themselves and their minders! )

May be so, it is so!
Providence is a fair Equalizer.
There is no denying!

Written for d’Verse hosted by Mary in Poetics: It's About Time - a tribute to the Bard's - All The World's a Stage and Poets United's Poetry Pantry #120

17 comments:

  1. ugh...the second childhood scares me a bit...esp if you mix dementia into it...i think i could deal with the being cared for...may not always like it....but not the losing of the mind...

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  2. Good comparisons betwen the 'ages' at both ends of the spectrum, Hank. You told it like it is in a way that was hard to read but, I know, the truth for way too many:

    Aged and spent
    devoid of memory, dehumanized and degrading unkempt
    to say the least. A pale shadow of the accomplished
    and recognized of old. A planned obsolescence of the
    human kind, sans everything!


    I think we all hope to escape this stage and hope that those we love are able to escape it as well. Your poem will stay with me, Hank!

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  3. That second childhood is sad and devastating Hank ~ I hate to think that one's children, now grown can't take care of their parents.

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  4. Not a thrilling thought at all, is it? Babies have a lifetime to look forward too. Poopie nappies and vomit are all accepted as 'the norm' in old age, everyone seems to lose their patience with people who become totally dependent on others for everything. I would also dread loosing my mind.
    Scary thoughts Hank. Very well said.

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  5. Great comparision at both ends of the spectrum. At least the kids grow out of the diapers, where as the elderly grow into them, and losing my mind, not fun at all.

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  6. my mom used to work in a home for elderly people and what i saw there always scared me a bit as a kid...and honestly..still does..

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  7. Hank, you have written this true and real. I have seen so much of that second childhood in nursing homes I worked in, that it makes your poem a little scary to me. I hope I keep the few wits I have left to the end.

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  8. Your description of the second childhood is uncomfortably accurate... I too find it a bit scary, especially because I'm in denial and am convinced I won't have to go through that. But if I live long enough... I wonder if some of what you describe and the question you pose is what helps make it (a bit) easier to let go...on both sides? Well written, and unfortunately... thought provoking :)...

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  9. I think there is a sublime state where perhaps those with dementia and Alzheimers don't know any differently, so we are protected somehow from what others see and think on the outside...as long as we are comfortable and people are kind; it's trying and painful for the caregivers and cruel yes, but a blessing in disguise maybe to escape somehow...just a thought..

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  10. The peeling away of an onion until just a tiny nub is left--Yours is both a scary and a hopeful write.

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  11. Wow. I have loads written on my mother's dementia. It was a hard road for all of us.

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  12. Hank,

    You have made an excellent relationship and comparison between life at both the first stages and childhood; then life in the closing years, needing care and help...How quickly those years between seem to vanish.

    Eileen

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  13. Your last two lines could stand alone, Hank. A poem of education, with the big lesson at the end.

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  14. This touched me deeply. I have seen so much of this second childhood when I worked as a nurse and now watching my mother pass her 90th birthday, no longer able to remember much, too weak to walk much and tired. It is a sad time for her as she was once so very independent!! You have written it well, Hank.

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  15. Excellent. I have seen the second childhood in folk I have known, and sometimes fear that I'm seeing it begin in me - part of it I would welcome, part not, but we cannot pick and choose... if only!
    You treat it well. I agree completely with Kim's remark.

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  16. This subject seems a perennial favourite. You worked the theme very well.

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