Written and published to Facebook on June 28th, 2011
Author's Note: Wow. I wrote a poem about subatomic particles. This was about the extent of my understanding after having taken high school chemistry and physics, some years earlier. What we had learned about electrons' tendency to travel in pairs (at least, according to the atom model that we were using at the time) struck me as significant, as it seemed similar to the way that people were in their relationships. I also found it fitting to make an allusion to "free radicals" when explaining why it's better not to let go of loners and leave them to themselves.
If you can't tell from reading the poem itself, I was kind of despondent while I was writing it. Anyways, here it is.
I haven't been writing much of anything recently, least of
all any poems.
But today, I think I need to stop sculpting for a day; it's
time to allow myself to bleed. After all, Five For Fighting says that even
heroes have that right. If heroes have that right, then I should have it all
the more. Onwards, press onwards, and all that good stuff.
***
A little electron,
A molecular bit
Continued his course on
Perpetual orbit
He noticed that others,
Electrons like he was
Would travel together
He noticed a difference -
For together they spun
Paired in exuberance
While he was just one
It struck the electron;
An inferior am I?
Why am I a lone one,
No others nearby?
Oh, he tried to approach them,
The electrons who flew
But somehow they repelled him,
The ones grouped in two.
The negative charges
Push their own kind apart
If a non-partner barges
Then the partners depart
The lonely electron
Yearned for a friend
As part of the atom
He just wanted to blend
The protons below him
Found him attractive
Yet flying towards them
Was counterproductive
Though he valiantly tried
To speed to the nucleus
Forces pushed him aside.
Leaving orbit was useless.
The neutrons, uncaring
One way or another
Sent the weeping electron
Out - hopefulness smothered
When he found more electrons
And tried to group with them
As one they dispers'ed
Taking only their best friend
There is, for the particles,
No space to have "extras"
To one they are faithful,
The rest are but excess
The unpaired electron
Still orbited onwards
Gazing on to the protons
His only hope inwards
He hoped that one day
He would not be repulsive
His dreams made him sway
'Til his flight was convulsive
And then he was free!
All alone, how he flew!
His atom but mem'ry
To the darkness he drew
Alone, in the vacuum...
...An electron, unpaired...
He raced on momentum
He was pained, but not scared
In my life I have seen
So many electrons
Who yearn and who dream
To be cared for by someone
Too often I find:
"To one they are faithful,"
To all others, eyes blind
Are turned in dismissal
I am but one person.
If this rule must apply -
That you can't group electrons,
But in two they can fly,
Then if you would have courage
And search through the cloud
That would fulfill my wish,
Concerning the proud
Perhaps just the best friend
Is the best for electrons.
Then I hope that they send
One of each, from the protons
Else you'll find iotas
With a negative charge;
Rogues labelled "beta."
Electrons at large.
For space can be lonely
To electrons unpaired
On that you must trust me,
If you've never been there.
Be that best friend to someone!
Or the atom gets weak.
And they call it an ion,
Which is easy to tweak.
Not to mention the "betas,"
Particles magnetic
Whose hope lies in "alphas"
If they want hope to stick.
I write this requiem
For rogues and for outcasts
To whom it must seem
That friends never last
Go on now, and do!
If you have any love
Will you just LOOK PAST YOU,
Find the lone ones who rove?
If my heart must shatter
For electrons abroad
To have fragments of matter...
I'd do that for God.
The protons, you see,
Which are so far away
Are just like Deity
Who do not us betray
We can not be with them
At this present day
From afar, they attract us
Though afar we must stay
For this, the electrons
Must help the ones solo
It only takes someone
To fill that place, hollow
Please, go and do that,
My "electronic friends."
While I chase down "betas,"
To reclaim them again.
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| Painting by Jay Pearmon - original source found here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/pearmon/3426023056/ |
Later, folks.
- [TAB III]
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