because there must be a cure.

Snapshots- photographs;
Photographic memory snapshots,
freeze frames, stuck in time forever young.
You play in the yard
grass-stained knees, shoes long gone
Mommy and Daddy are away but
you are having the best time at Aunt's house!
Snapshot.
Kitchen table, snack time
Oreos and milk, famous milk mustaches
Silly little laughs over pointless events.
Snapshot.
Smiles for you, always for you;
a little gift, a hair ribbon.
She always wanted a girl, she'd say
as she put it in your hair.
You, you didn't understand but
you kept it in anyway, knowing
that it was special.
You felt special.
Snapshot.
Asking, what did you do with your curls?
As you climb into her lap,
not knowing the importance of
bone thin legs and white skin and these
ugly dark circles under her eyes; no,
you wanted to know where her hair was.
And she laughed and kissed your cheek.
And she never did give you
The Answer.
Snapshot.
Had it been merely months, or had
it been years?
She doesn't remember your name and you,
older than your years always,
know that this is a problem that
for once you can't solve.
And you try to tell the other children-
they don't understand.
Freeze.
Pan parlour, zoom in.
Open casket, pasty corpse.
This isn't her, you insist to-
of all people - yourself;
This isn't her, you say,
because she was always laughing.
Photograph:
Woman and girl.
A pink ribbon on a shirt,
and a pink ribbon in your hair.