Robbie Sambat

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