I think it was when I was five
When mum and I went for a drive
To the shops to buy something for tea,
As was normal for me then
I passed the time with pad and pen
Doodling and scribbling expertly...
I must have been thinking out loud
For randomly I had endowed
The paper with some random letters I
Had learned in school the week just gone
Writing them so very wrong
But speaking loudly L followed by I
To which my mum said, "What's that son?
You want to know another one?
Goodness but you are so curious!
L and I can only be
For lithium that has but three
Protons in its atom's nucleus!
"The word for this soft element
Comes from those great eloquent
People that we call the Ancient Greeks..."
And despite my morbid groan
She said, "Lithos is Greek for stone..."
Why oh why was my mum such a geek?
"And did you know that L and I
Is one of the alkali
Metal groups found in the elements?"
"No I did not know that mum,
But can we speak of something fun?"
I asked but she shared not my sentiments...
"It is the lightest metal too,
And not that dense my son, it's true"
I was trapped inside a vehicle..
"...Being alkali it's flammable,
By that I mean it's burnable..."
I wondered if escape was feasible!
"And lithium when cut open,
So I've heard it being spoken,
Is quite a shiny metal to behold...
But when it touches the moist air
The metal loses quick its flare
From silver gray, to black or so I'm told..."
I whispered there a silent prayer
"Please help me get out of here!"
As "...lithium-6 deuteride..." she said,
"Serves well as a fusion fuel..'
I could almost see her drool,
"...In thermonuclear weapons of dread!"
And although that part was cool
I felt like I was back in school
When she told me of its applications
Like heat resistant glass and things
Like lubricants so things don't cling
"And batteries..." she said with some elation.
And captive to my mum's discourse
I sat there feeling some remorse
Over ever speaking L and I
I wondered if there was a way
That I could feel another way
For I was quite sure that I could cry...
And as if she read my thought
My mother went on to report
That lithium could change the way you feel
I pondered then perhaps I should
Find out if someone my age could
Use it to survive my mother's spiels!
By Kerin Gedge
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