Ten toes, two legs, one body, no head.

I remember wondering in that hall writing my Ethics exam. How dare this prof ask me when life starts.
Who am I to say,
"life starts at conception, when the sperm meets the ovum."?.
Or imply that
"no, it didnt. It actually started the moment the heart began to beat, or maybe even at birth once it passes the vag canal"

I somehow managed to conjure up some words to make it out of that hall.
I passed.
I was glad.
Never ever will I be confronted by such disturbing riddle.
I knew that there was no right answer; that Ethics course taught me that.

So as I stood in this lab, four years later, watching what this pathologist assistant held so matter-of-fact-ly in his hand
I remembered my Ethics class.
Oh goodness! Maybe there really is an answer!

That mass there in his palm, somewhat about a hundrenth of a pound.
Dead, silent, there. Hardly visible in that midst of what was to be her home for a while till she grew.
I call her a she.
Though it was probably a he.

It hit home for me because I'd do it. Wouldnt I?
And dont you dare judge me!!! Wouldnt you?!

Somewhat about a hundrenth of a human.
Dead, silent, there. Was a lifeless body of what was to be a person's baby.
All toes were present. i counted ten.

Ten toes, two legs, one trunk with no arms and no head , missing in the rubble of some red mushy remnants of a mixture of her's and her mother's tissues.
This mass of a life or lack there of, at 9 weeks and a day.

How then, do you decide when life started?
I dont know.
Tough this one did end, at negative nine weeks, and a day.