My First Interaction With a Cadaver

As I entered the dissection hall with trepidation My insides churned with disgust When I set eyes on the cadaver I felt scared and squeamish, but to continue was a must I slipped on my gloves And held up my forceps in my hand As I looked around at my comrades I felt I was far from wonderland Our teacher told us to look down And appreciate the structures we see All I could think of was This is a dead body in front of me I knew I had to overcome my fears As medicine was my life I mustered up all the courage I could And plunged my forceps into the cadaver like a knife Everyone was horrified At the unforeseen cadaver destruction But I had a strange feeling Of relief and satisfaction I knew this was the only way To rid me of my fear Now I felt I had triumphed After having murdered a cadaver I knew that was technically not possible After all the cadaver was already dead I knew I wont go to jail For severing off a dead head Now my fear was abolished The next day I walked in with confidence What I didn’t know was I would have to do a harsh penance My teached made me dissect cadaver after cadaver Meticulously and carefully This went on for days together She showed me no mercy After a point I began enjoying it The smell of formalin became appealing I reveled in the dissection And slowing my anxiety began retreating Today I’m thankfull to her For believing in me She didn’t let me give up And made sure I grew from a sapling into a tree Today I’m a cardiothoracic surgeon And cadavers don’t excite me anymore Its beating hearts that do And long surgeries are therefore never a chore I still remember my days as a medical student While meeting the deadlines at the 11th hour But the day I remember most fondly Is the day I murdered a cadaver