How Terrible, How Great, How Grand
by Dr. Clay Rice
Image source: Unsplash
Dressed in gown and gloves and glasses,
The flesh before me reft asunder,
I inhale a breath, the nausea passes.
Who am I to play surgeon, I wonder.
The human form, apparently quotidian
Few have so intimately known.
Only circumstances so Stygian
Would lead me here to cut through bone.
Though morbid, macabre, melancholy,
There is a certain beauty to be found.
Like the hostile yet splendid Peak Nepali
Reverence, wonder, fear abounds.
These bones carefully articulated,
Muscles in silvery fascia bound,
Nerves that movement once initiated:
I am overcome with awe profound.
How terrible, how great, how grand
To see the intricate inner design,
The evidence of a master Hand
In this room where death and life entwine.
Dr. Clayton Rice is a recent graduate of the UTCOMLS. He is now a PGY1 at Cahaba Medical Care with the University of Alabama in Birmingham Family Medicine Residency Program in Birmingham, AL.
