I never believed this could happen to me:
to enter the hospital room, to sit here
in a velvet covered armchair, only to witness
this brand new scene right in front of me,
so close that I can hear the patient’s sighs
or just imagine them. That moment when a nurse
performs an electric cardiac stimulation,
the next moment when the woman lying there
startles in her body, jumping up in the bed
like a toy out of the box. If I were a real doctor
I wouldn’t care at all, at least I wouldn’t feel weak
in my bones, leaning over the armchair.
I'm only a spectator with a strong mind
and a frail body near a kindred soul.

The difference is that I wear white,
another kind of uniform in a place where
everyone else has one, a whiter overall
than the nurse’s.