Witness

Madalina Maxim, 2T3 WB

I watched a heart take its final beat
As I stood, looming over this exposed source of life, I nearly missed it
The beats had gotten so slow: dragging, trudging, as the heart tried to continue in its purpose, its only goal
My eyes were transfixed on this struggle
Disconnected from the rest of the warm body it had so calmly rested in, this heart continued to beat, ever slowly

I watched a heart take its final beat
Did it know that I had some part in it?
That I was stealing the lifeblood it used to pump, storing it away in metal machines, never to warm skin again
Did it continue to beat against insurmountable odds, rebelling against the masked figures that watched and waited for its eventual demise?
Did it hate us? Did it hate me?

I watched a heart take its final beat
Did it know? Was it aware of the rushed movements just beyond the muscular wall, the hurried struggle of our own?
Did it know we were taking their compatriots? That this vessel of theirs was being dismembered, gently, carefully, thoughtfully, by masked faces like mine?
Were those measured, solemn beats a wave goodbye?

I watched a heart take its final beat
And I didn’t know it in the moment
I stretched with the time between pumps only to find none more reaching my eyes
My attention finally shifted to the work being done just below, to the chances at life we were storing away
I’d like to think that in those last moments, that heart knew what it had accomplished
That it had pumped long past due, with silence echoing from above
That it had saved its kin for us, for the ones who needed them desperately
That it had stood by the wish of the soul, their loved ones, and had granted us this gift

I watched a heart take its final beat
And somewhere, in another chest, one continued on