|
Friday, 26 January 1996 19:45 |
It was here that we heard our first words of Chemistry,
And hence discovered how ignorant we really were,
We should have quit while the going was good,
But pride kept us glued to our seats,
Staring at the blackboard and listening intently,
Yet seeing stars and hearing greek,
And we took this punishment week after week.
Yes, it was in this laboratory,
That we first heard of valency and isotopes,
Of redox, catalysis and delocalisation,
Of fascinating names like '2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine';
Well yes, we also talked about life,
About Susans, Janes and Marias,
About ambitions dreams and careers.
We learnt that esters smell nice, methyl amine doesn't,
Nitrobenzene does- but will kill you while you sniff it;
That if you boil some solvents without a porcelain chip,
You'll probably end up without a face,
That if you run out of mouthwash,
And your mouth smells like a sick pig's backside,
Just reach for your bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
How were we to have known before this,
That Avogadro's number is raised to the power of twenty-three,
That Rutherford proved there's a nucleus,
By the scattering of alpha particles;
That there's a Plank's Constant and a Graham's Law,
And that as Einstein proposed relativity,
Linus Pauling proved electronegativity?
That if you don't study you'll flunk paper 1,
If you don't cram you'll flunk 2, 3, and 4,
Don't bother sitting for multiple choice,
If you're not good at guessing;
If you're colour blind,
Then brother you'll flunk the practical;
If you can't answer anything- then it's time to get hysterical.
Well we soon discovered that our low IQs
Couldn't keep up with the pages of notes,
So what we couldn't understand we crammed,
What we couldn't cram we let pass,
Unfortunately though, what we let pass-
Is always what came out in the tests,
So we flunked- and there my case rests.
But thanks to the man,
Who gave us his time,
Who taught us more than just the chemistry,
Who gave us more than just the A, B, or C,
When we hold science tomorrow we won't miss the runway,
Thanks to his forearm and faithful reminder,
We may flunk yes- but we'll never surrender.
© Fungai James Tichawangana
(For Hudson Mazwi, for all he taught us- including the chemistry.)
Kumba
Sunday 26 January 1996
1045hrs
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 April 2008 03:53 )
|
