Two Lives

I wrote this poem way back in 1998. But only a couple of months ago I saw a documentary which showed that according to the latest research the heart actually does have a little brain of its own, comprising about 40,000 neurons (about as smart as a slug), so maybe some memories do pass from the donor to the recipient:

Two Lives

It was over in an instant
live one moment, dead the next
a careless pointless instant
his accidental death...

She was young, some would say pretty
she was barely in her teens
he would have loved to give his heart
to this school-girl in blue jeans

To feel it beat within her breast
the warmth on her face of the sun
to feel it leap with all the joys
of a lifetime still to come

They say embodied in the heart
the donor's tastes live on
anonymously yearning
though the giver's life is gone

well...she finds she now likes chicken
and the sometimes football game
though she still likes hanging
with her friends and walking in the rain.

His family will mourn their loss
while hers will celebrate
rejoicing in this second chance
the end of a long wait

He'll never now have children
He'll never have a wife, but
He gave her the gift of a lifetime
He gave her the gift of a life.