Writing from the stemistry lab
Just another surplus foetus
by David Mason
You do not care when human life begins,
You’ve already been there, and now you’re here.
You do not care much when human life ends,
one day you’ll be there, and long gone from here.
In between here and there, you’ve been lucky,
pushed and prodded till they gave you an egg
of your own; now brother cells form quickly.
creating, repairing, head, arms and legs.
But what if? What if you once needed help?
Suppose they said you need my stem cells to live?
Will you say yes, thinking only of self?
Take from those who have no choice but to give?
Can you tell me ‘give me stem cells, then die’?
Die only if we were truly alive.
So say, who decides that you shall not die?
Who says we have no soul, and do not live.?
Take what you can. Devil take the hindmost.
Is this the world you grow to, all taking?
Why not give cells to help a younger host?
All stem cells give without even thinking.
Human life. Humans die, but life goes on
changing hosts whenever there is a need.
Who can say exactly when you begin?
Was it the time when the egg joined by seed
started once more that wonderful journey?
No one has the right to say you’ll not start
on this road of life, learning on the way
who are your friends, and who will break your heart?
The answer lies deep in all of your minds.