Ice Floats by Celia Berrell
(the three states of water)
Water is exceptional.
It disobeys a rule.
Its solid form is lighter
than its liquid, which is cool!
Most elements and compounds will
behave with much more sense.
Compared with their own liquid form
their solid form’s more dense.
But put an ice-cube in a drink.
You’ll notice that it floats.
One-tenth above; nine-tenths below.
Like ice-bergs you will note.
These ice-sheets form a blanket
so the water underneath
remaining as a liquid
doesn’t freeze the fish to death.
Imagine how our world would be
if solid water sank.
The Sun could hardly melt it
which would be a deadly prank.
As years went by the ice would fill
the oceans to the top
and life as we all know it
would eventually stop.
Ice-cubes in a drink would sink
and only cool the bottom.
Snowflakes might not form at all!
A thought that’s really rotten.
We owe our life in part to
water’s scientific token,
that rare occasions will exist
where rules are better broken!
Australian Children’s Poetry 