Transplant

This is fiction

Last weekend,
We took a liver,
And I scrubbed that case.

This weekend,
We gave a liver,
Or rather,
Replaced.

I’m amazed.

What an honor it is,
To be on both sides of the blade.

Last weekend we took,
And this week we gave.
What one will be without,
The other will embrace.

While one lives on,
The other decays,
But their gift lives forever,
Never to be erased.

It’s intricate work,
Those arteries and veins.
There’s no room for feeling,
No time for mistakes.

Put away your bias,
Lock it in a suitcase,
To honor this gift,
We focus on today.

This practice is dire,
We cannot delay.
We will grieve later,
But for now,
We create.

Really,
That’s all I have to say.

If I think about it too hard,
It kind of hurts my brain.

I just want you to know,
The sacrifice is not in vain.
It isn’t lost on us,
The magnitude of that grace.

It’s just high stakes.

But we remember what we give,
Just as much as what we take.
Our donors live on,
Not as ghosts in the haze.

But,
Instead,
As heroes,
Whose names will never fade.

And we carry their memory,
With us,
In memorium,
Always.