Moonshine Muse

There are no words to say thanks to those who donated their bodies to medicine. It is a charity of enormous sacrifice that only those who have taken cadaver anatomy can understand. So I wrote a little thank-you to those donors:

Thank you for what you have given us.
You donated your body to medicine
of your own free will
expecting nothing in return
without knowing the full extent
of the power of knowledge
that you have imparted to us.
Without knowing that the education
was beyond any textbook,
any website,
or any imagination
could ever provide.

Without knowing that the experience
allowed us to feel and to express
the excitement of the anatomy lab,
the graveness of unveiling your face,
the nervousness in that first incision,
the humor because some of us needed it,
the surprise of those unexpected discoveries,
the lightheadedness for the difficult parts,
the fear of exploring those "shy" areas,
the fascination that is the human body,
the deep respect as we realized
the magnitude such a donation to medicine
truly means to us and our future.

In those few hours a week
spent in your presence
you have overwhelmed our senses.
Overwhelmed our eyes,
our sense of touch,
and for some of us,
our sense of smell.
Overwhelmed us
with knowledge in one hour
equal to what it takes
ten textbooks to explain.

Perhaps you gave
because we are
the future of medicine...
But what you may not know
is that you truly became
a part of our future,
or in many ways,
you actually gave it to us.