Ode to a Bag of Chemicals

The formulae of prose only for the whole?
Reserved for none but the total construct
Ignore the formulae with elements
No poet’s ode to chemicals and water?

I say nay for that is far to narrow
iambic here for what is at life’s core
And what really lies beneath to explain
Effects imparted by cupid’s arrow

As beautiful and wondrous as any art
no matter what medium or method
that one could use invoke or might apply
that the hand of man could to us impart

A dance of atoms that is so sublime
No choreographer could hope to match
No painter the dynamics could set in oils
And no poet as precise in any rhyme

I’ll harp more than once this very same refrain
Without any ambiguity to see
I am a chemical constituency
Dig down enough and it’s really quite plain

Dopamine helps motivate and rewards
Voluntary movement’s within its control
Learning, mood, memory, conditioning
As well as to whom we tend to lean towards

Epinephrine races the heart once smitten
Pupils large as saucers show the interest
Pulling blood from the less vital structures
Toward brain and heart by Eros’ shaft bitten

Serotonin our well being provides
Happiness provided by a monoamine
Though it really hurts when it is injected
Helps to ensure our food through the gut slides

Waves of potassium along an axon’s length
Depolarizing sections of membrane
An ionic semaphore like a byte
Affects the brains network with variable strength

I’ll harp more than once this very same refrain
Without any ambiguity to see
I am a chemical constituency
Dig down enough and it’s really quite plain

Actin and Myosin pull a tiny bit
But as they are legion my muscles flex
Compounded flickers move my fingers so
This prosaic message I can transmit

Testosterone leads to bolder actions
Sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes not
Tis true it helps us find our life’s soul mates
But leads to troubles with other factions

This but a sample of the compounds about
Many more mindlessly act to make me me
That who I am could come from this, I think
Is a real miracle about which to shout

The particular shape aroma and feel
Of her bag of chemicals I know well
My chemicals recognize her any where
and build a life, I would not trade, that’s real

I’ll harp more than once this very same refrain
Without any ambiguity to see
We are a chemical constituency
Dig down enough and it’s really quite plain