Shall I Compare Thee to a Day in Spring?

Here's a picture of an original poem written by one of our former residents, Duncan. 

Although Duncan was in the later stages of dementia, when presented with the original copy of this love poem he had written for Doreen on Easter of 1965, magic happened. It occurred during one of our House recording sessions several years ago. With recorder on, Doreen and Bruce waited several minutes to see if there would be a response to our request asking Duncan to read the poem. Duncan stared at the poem for what seemed like several minutes, then he burst into dramatic oration, reading his words of love with the emotion and gravitas of someone who's spent his entire life on stage, even though his ability to converse had been severely limited up until that moment. Bruce attempted to capture another sample of this reading a week later but Duncan was not able to read it coherently. 

We were fortunate to have captured Duncan's recital of the poem on tape. You'll hear it on "Alex and Betty," track #5 on Across the Lines.  It's a beautiful testament to a talented man and the love he held for his wife of many years.