New Yorker: Patti Smith Remembers Sam Shepard. August 01, 2017 by Garret Vreeland in Arts, Books Sam walked to his bed and lay down and went to sleep, a stoic, noble sleep. A sleep that led to an unwitnessed moment, as love surrounded him and breathed the same air. The rain fell when he took his last breath, quietly, just as he would have wished.