The remarkable sameness of us all
In patches of blank and occasionally floral garb
We sit around – no, we rarely sit
We rarely drink
Barely human at times
But then, always human
There is a strange humor to it all, being the ones To dance to the rhythm of disharmonious alarms Always alert to the snap of fear
Those certain sights, sounds, smells That ignite the flammable spirit And put training into action
Practiced hands into streams of motion
To protect, to save, to defy
I have seen eyes lighten
With words that assure
I have seen eyes that darken
As life leaves the world behind them I am the constant and they need me To be constant
To be steady and sure Even and especially when Nothing else is so
I have known bitterness
And anger And frustration And pain
I carry stories that seem to
Replay themselves again, again
Did I do right?
Do I dwell on these matters forever?
Did I treat this person as stranger, as family, as friend?
Did I let go life without a fight, to be
Immersed in dirt and time?
Living this dream
Of wearing blank and occasionally floral garb To dance to the rhythm of disharmonious alarms And being the one to look at life born
And life lost
And all those lights and shades of person and personality
In between my first and last day
Is everything but what one can anticipate
We live this dream
With eyes open
Daring to see where it takes us Daring Death to stare at us Defying Death to stare
To find humor in strange places
To find any humor at all
In dirt and blood
To rescue life from the darkest of a million shadowy moments
That will pervade this life we chose
To mend the body That is beyond repair With smile at the ready
This remarkable sameness of us all
In patches of blank and occasionally -- Okay, often –
Floral garb and matching shoe
Barely sitting, drinking
Sheep among the wolves of illness
Is broken only by the one thing the fractures the homogeneity
Of this dream
Turning the river of sameness into tributaries
The stories we gather, how we live each day
How we choose to meet sadness with light
To accept our nothingness to elevate the person In that bed who needs our protection Needs all things we are sometimes Incapable of providing for ourselves
Love
