Fighting Against The Odds

 Letter by letter, always starting from the left
and word by word, I’m only on page 2 after 4
days of hard work, yet my resolve to carry on
does not waver, determination to keep going
is growing stronger, I’m learning all the time –

Though my brain is heavy and slow, though the
fear there are Black Holes in my mind in which
information disappears and I never find certain
things again - I’m mountaineering, scaling this
Arabic mountain one step at a time, working

Through lunch, listening to music when noise
in the office interferes with images created by
the languid Arabic letters creating feelings by
which I recognise some and deduce others -
dreaming of conquest & victory, but for now

Working like this is terribly slow, starting from
the left when typing the Arabic word while my
single-minded computer changes word order
and I have to type one word at a time on the
Arabic keyboard:  first A, then L, next -

The pretty Queen with 2 crowns on her head,
then Weemoed, A again, Nina, next my angry
eyes Y, and last Nina repeats again, which is
القوانين = “laws”

Next word : A then L, M, T, Bell, Queen, at the
very end Hartseer – fighting against the odds
by numbering every line and every word, thus
this is page 2, line 18, word 6:
المطبقة…. = “applicable”

At this rate I shall be busy till kingdom come –
it’s great as clever scientists said thinking &
walking every day keeps Alzheimer’s at bay-
given the Black Holes in my mind I have no
room for any more problems…