The Ocean of Life

The human tide
ebbs and flows like the
vast ocean of life it represents
flooding hospital corridors
clinics, emergency areas
in an endless epidemic
of age, disability, disease
and chronic, inherited illness.
The frail, the feeble of mind
and of body, they swamp
the capacity of medical
science in their eager
desperation to live as
part of the human ocean
of existence. They appear
in all sizes and age groups
the exoticism of their
imagery second of notice
to their need evident in
their halting gait
the lost expression their
eyes reflect of their minds
and their souls, this
teeming ocean of humanity.