The Anatomy Class Room

a poem by Anupama Pyarelal

The babies.
I counted them all,
All twenty eight of them.
Sealed in plastic containers,
Suspended, preserved,
In an achievement of science.
Little lives collected along the way,
Displayed in rows,
To be stared at,
Detached, clinical and-
With no emotions.
But the souls flutter free,
Invisible butterflies, eaves’ droppers,
Dancing in the air.