she smiles - edit4

[busker]

she smiles
and feeling so relieved
in that warm swift moment
I must cry except
it’s gone before my tears can well  ... This is an arresting opening

then terror strains and locks
her features back with knowing
only that she cannot understand
or put a name to anything she sees  ... the narration carries along apace

dementia’s not damnation
for it fades
into waking unconsciousness  ..... is the 'for' needed in the previous line? I don't feel that it's a strong argument that's being made here
with its heartbreaking smile ...... I don't like 'heartbreaking' for the cliche element
until tension
crippled mindfulness 
and fears return  ... while this is an easy enough line, the lack of punctuation makes it confusing. It took me a while to figure out. perhaps a hyphen after tension would help, as long as the reader doesn't confuse it for an end of line em dash

not damnation
since neither deserved
nor endless  ... a clever observation, and that itself is - unintentional or not - ironic

A fine, honest poem. Thanks for posting.