I did my best to visit but
Her memory was thin
And she kept asking if I knew
When she’d go home again

“What difference can I make?”
I asked and slumped down in my chair
“In just an hour or so she will
Not know that I was there”

So, I slipped out of the doorway
Hoping that perhaps I’d find
The answers to the questions
Parading through my mind

After I walked a mile the rain 
Began to fall and I
Started looking for a shelter
Underneath a tree nearby

There clinging to its highest branch
Stood a cardinal and he
When he saw me started singing
In his cheery joyful glee

And His melodies brought memories
Like echoes from a well
Reminding me of promises
That I only knew too well

Of my Savior and His passion
And the cross He chose to bear
To pay the price so high and deep
Before I knew Him there

"… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 
Ephesians 3:18b-19 NIV

Before I Knew Him There
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved

I am dedicating this poem to the memory of my precious stepmom Amy, (pictured in the feature photo with my dad.) Amy battled Parkinson’s Disease for the last 6 years of her life and passed away in 2004. Though the scene in “Before I Knew Him There” is an imaginary composite, it is one that I see a bit of every week as I visit in the memory care wing of a local facility. I also dedicate this little poem to all those whose loved ones are passing through the veil of memory loss, or who are perhaps beginning that journey themselves.