Becoming Something Other

I got a call
I got a phone call from my mother
Your dad is changing
He is becoming something other

And you may not recognize him when you come
And he may not realize it's you
There's part of him that is completely numb

He'd not been well
His eyes and legs were almost useless
He'd been depressive
He hated looking so damn foolish

And the cat-scan showed his brain was losing mass
And he didn't know each morning
Where he was or how he'd come to this impasse

He took the phone
His voice was querulous and distant
I heard an old man
And I knew it in an instant

And he told me how it was to be so blind
And he told me how it was to know precisely
How it felt to lose his mind

I asked my dad
How much his vision was impaired
He said he sees things
But that the things he sees are things that are not there

Then he paused and quietly spoke these words that chilled
He said, "I have my own small thoughts about that
And I felt the air around me grow quite still"

For my dad was telling me that he was dying
He was telling me in such a gentle way
And I couldn't stop myself from softly crying
As he formed the mindless words that had their say

I got a call
I got a phone call from my mother
Your dad is changing
He is becoming something other