Hi Aunt B, I'm so glad that Wolf saw you post. He's a wonderful editor. I'm sure he'll know the answer to your question about verse 7. One word caught my eye so I looked it up in the dictionary. The first line in the last verse should read "wreaks havoc" (not "reeks"). "To wreak" means "to bring about" or "to inflict," as in "to wreak havoc." Of course, the spelling would not matter when reading it aloud.
I am sure that the mourners at your husband's memorial service will recognize his "voice" in your poem. May God bless you.
Aunt B*, You might want to have copies of the poem prepared ahead of time so they can be available for friends and family who attend the service and hear the poem. Perhaps close friends, grandchildren or cousins could hand them out as folks are leaving.
No real treat/ment op/tions. No hope for a cure. I'm tell/in' ya folks, too much to en/dure. There's no way to do it all on your own. E/ven with fam/ily, you feel so a/lone.
I doubt it matters Aunt B dropping the 'real'. If you're english 'family' is three syllables. If you use tellin' ya then you pronounce family as two syllables (fam/ly). Trust your ear here.
As to no real treatment being false, everyone here has an opinion on that one. I think it's splitting hairs and is a valid thought Tim would have been entitled to. It is also my personal opinion there is no real treatment.
Myrtle is right. I missed that spelling. Reek is smell. I probably missed other things. We're all just trying to help.
Good luck. It's good that you try to speak for Tim at this time. We all try to do things even if that's just wishing we could do things and by sharing this with all of us we all share in it.
"Reek" works well for me. Reek is a stink, which describes Alzheimer's vividly. A-Z "wreaks" havoc for sure, but the word "reeks" is unusual and stops the reader. That makes "reek" stronger for me, the reader.
OK, full disclosure here. I'm an English language Nazi, and a published author, so I noticed "reeks" right away, although Myrtle caught it, too, so I didn't comment.(Run-on sentence…sorry.) I understand what mary75 means…and it's a great play on words…but in this case, I would prefer to see the conventional spelling in the phrase "wreaks havoc." It is correct after all, respectful of the subject matter; and it won't be distracting or cause confusion to the reader. "Reeks" is not quite the right word for this important poem.
Thank you all so very much for your taking the time to read and offer your thoughts. I am most definitely NOT an author and quite possibly one of the world's worst spellers! I love the invention of spell check!!! I will take all your thoughts into consideration and I feel so much more prepared to present this as a gift to Tim and to those, besides me, that loved him.
marche: I do plan to have some copies especially for family members. The one I will read from will be mounted onto an orange background with black framing...Harley Davidison colors!
Mary75: I like the implication of "reeks" too. We are thinking alike. But, since I am planning to give copies out, I will probably change it to the correct spelling.
Thanks guys for that input. I love you all and have mentioned you all as my dear virtual friends, that have provided enormous support and advice, in the obituary. This site has been a God send for me.