Upon Waking: Compassion for the Elders (a not-poem)

Sometimes, I awaken,
And don't know
If I'm really awake.

Do you ever get that feeling
Of being disoriented
As you trip on the divide 
Between here and there?

I hate it, that feeling
Of disorientation;
It terrifies me,
Reminds me of The Alzheimer's,
And of The Going Mad,
And of how we don't really know what we don't know,
Or where we are,
Or when we are.

Catherine Anne Kilbride
May 25, 2020