Dear donor

To a doctor anatomy class is an irreplaceable learning experience; an exploration through the human body that allows us to explore and learn. This piece is dedicated to all those wonderful donors.

You lie there all alone on a table cold and forlorn

You lie there as we stare at you in awe.

Once soft and pink, scented in Chanel

Your body, now stiff and shriveled

By some mistake, a disease, a stupid twist of fate,

Now deck our dissection hall.

What wonders have these hands nurtured?

What beauty have these eyes beheld?

Oh little stranger so kind,

Even in this eternal sleep, you foster our little dreams.

As we make our first cuts, we whisper a prayer, a thank you,

In hope it will find its way to you.

Beneath all those layers you’re so much more beautiful,

Beneath all those layers, you reveal to us

All the wonders of our  own fragile bodies

And the amazing life it holds within.

I make my way to your heart, like many before me have

Did it beat strong and mighty to the drums of war?

Or to the tunes of a love song?

Oh what dreams have you dreamt?   

Oh what thoughts have you thought?           

It’s one convoluted mystery, ‘tis but grey matter now.

What music have these ears relished?

These ears of yours that now eavesdrop on our secrets

And pry on our little gossips.

Do you listen to our stories, our rants?

Or do you mock our naive imaginations?

Alas! I will never know.

But wherever time and fate may take me,

This promise I make to you,

To make you proud at every step

And not let this go in vain.

To remember that every miracle of my hands

Every title to my name,

Is yours to claim.

Even in death, you have cheated it.

Even in death, you live through us.

Thank you little stranger

Thank you for opening up to me.