Pieces of Our Love: Life’s Puzzle for Anne
Each day, Anne turns the cardboard squares over,
edges searching for edges, her fingertips remembering
the shape of wholeness long before the picture is clear.
Puzzles are her refuge now, when words sometimes stumble
and days dissolve, unthreading their careful patterns.
She fits colour to colour, the quiet promise of a piece
nestling perfectly into the world’s unfinished frame.
Maybe it’s the certainty: something can still come together,
even as neurons drift, and the sky tugs at her thoughts
like a child with gentle, insistent hands.
Many who walk this shadowed road with Anne
cling to puzzles, too, fragments pressed close
against the mystery, as if assembling a map
might teach us all how to stay, or how to let go.
Life itself is a bewildering puzzle – endlessly rearranged –
the search for meaning nestled in each missing piece.
“People with glioblastoma and other brain cancers are often drawn to puzzles as a therapeutic, engaging way to manage cognitive changes, reduce anxiety, and regain a sense of normalcy and control. Puzzles, such as jigsaw, Sudoku, or crosswords, offer a structured mental workout that can help maintain cognitive function, which is often affected by tumour growth. ” NIH
A wonderful film about puzzles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puzzle_(2018_film)
Your friend,
Robert
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/
If you feel like keeping track of Anne’s cancer journey, I’m chronicling it in prose and poetry here:
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/news/
