Still when I was very young
I showed my homework to my mum
A book of simple words I had to learn,
Things were going well until
She yelped a thrilling chilling shrill
Which may have caused our neighbours some concern!
And I knew what exactly
It was, the letters 'B' and 'e',
She saw them typed in bold upon the page,
She said, "My dear those letters there
Are there to see for me to share
A thing I learned myself when at your age!"
She said, "It's for Beryllium"
I said to her, "I don't care mum."
But regardless she was adamant
To make my homework more a chore,
"Its atomic number's four!"
She said of this chemical element.
"Curiously it is made..."
She was like a live grenade,
"Through stellar nucleosynthesis
Making it a short lived thing,
It's not really a common thing..."
I felt like I was trapped under hypnosis!
"Another too that's divalent,
Meaning that this element
Occurs naturally only when
With other elements it joins
In combination and conjoins
In minerals..." My wits were at their end.
But she went in for the kill
Telling me about beryl
Found in certain notable gemstones
But by itself this element
Is steel grey, but petulant
I wished that she would just leave me alone!
"It's strong and doesn't weigh a lot.."
She went on with a gallant trot,
"...although it is also a little brittle.."
I wondered how could it be true
To be both strong and brittle too,
Though my interest was brief and fickle!
"This alkaline earth metal can
improve the strength of soda cans
When added to aluminium
Or copper, iron, nickel too
Tools won't spark a bit when you
Make them using what? Beryllium!"
I'll admit that for a split
Second or two my mother's fit
Of scientific diatribe got me
Thinking about the qualities
"Flexural rigidity"
And of course "thermal stability"
"Thermal conductivity"
Was one along with density
Were things unique to this beryllium
Making the metal just right
For spaceships and for satellites!
I hid my excitement though from my mum!
Or else she would go on all night
And I would have to face the plight
Of trying to explain to Mrs Meany,
My first grade teacher, why it was
I could not read was all because
My mother misinterpreted be and e!
By Kerin Gedge
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