Soldiers smelled garlic;

horseradish; sulphur.

A kind of fusty

mustardy odour.

Then twelve hours later

they’d start to go blind,

get pus-filled blisters

and possibly died.

 

Chemist Fritz Haber

in World War One,

made mustard gas poison

worse than a gun.

This silently sneaky

chemical tool

spread crippling pain

that was very cruel.

 

Survivors were checked.

When blood tests were done,

most of their body’s

immune cells had gone.

They’d lost the white cells that

could turn into cancer.

Was mustard gas poison

a possible answer?

 

From a weapon of war

to helping the sick

this chemical cocktail

became our first pick

to fight against cancer.

A new remedy!

Oncology’s

chemotherapy.

 

Celia Berrell

 

A recent rain

to quench and share.

A cloudless night

to cool the air.

 

The slightest breeze

to chill on cue

the grass and leaves.

Here comes the dew.

 

The stage is set

for dawn’s sensation.

Jewel-studded

condensation.

 

Blanket-strewn

on grassy stems

are rainbow-sparkling

water gems.

 

First published in CSIRO’s Scientriffic magazine No 85, July 2013

My Wish  

 

Oftentimes, I wish that I,

like many, could impart

some wondrous words,

some hopes, some schemes,

escaping from my heart.

 

We’re 10cc’s of water and

although the Earth’s our base

we recently went travelling

up there – in outer space.

 

An astronaut had drunk us

just before his rocket ride.

And so we were the stowaways

that hid in his insides.

 

Meeting different molecules

we made a lot of friends.

With some we only mingled

while with others we held hands.

 

While staying in the astronaut

we all kept nice and warm

and floated round inside him and

explored his body’s form.

 

Eventually he moved us out.

So off we raced in glee.

With other friends I think we were

all classified as pee.

 

We found ourselves inside a box

with membrane walls all new.

Its holes were just the perfect size

for water to get through.

 

We said goodbye to all our friends

as they were far too fat

to wriggle through those membrane walls

and join us for a chat.

 

Now squeaky clean we hung around

inside some holding pen.

Until we found ourselves inside

the astronaut again!

 

There is a garden in my heart

where beauty grows in fits and starts.

Where smiles are petals from the flowers

bestowed by others from their bowers.

 

Nutritious hope reaps seeds to feed

my spirit for its every need.

With gratitude I’ll reach my goal

and touch the island of my soul.

The Garden Within by Celia Berrell was inspired by the painting Seeds of Gratitude by Sharon Davson

The Cat-Sock Dilemma

 

Hey diddle-diddle

a sock round the middle

when gently tied on my Cat,

will make her wiggle,

wobble and squiggle.

She can’t walk straight with that.

 

A slick little trick

that’s painless and quick.

There’s surely no harm in that?

We giggle, she wriggles,

goes higgledy-piggle

until she gets to lie flat!

Molecules and atoms all
vibrate to Thermo’s beat.
Their energy’s identified
by measuring the heat.

Like line-dancers they stay in form
and keep their solid state
when Thermo’s music’s playing cool
and doesn’t change its rate.

By turning up the temperature
they break-dance out of line
and move about as liquid to
our Thermo’s up-beat time.

And when it’s hot they leap about
like maniacs with jazz,
escaping from their dance floor as
they change into a gas.

The winter in New Zealand can
be beautiful with snow,
a solid state of water which
is icy H2O.

And as the sunshine heats it up
its molecules go hip
and melt into a liquid that’s
in puddles, pools and drips.

Now pour some water in a pan
and heat it on a stove.
You’ll see the bubbles forming
then escaping in their droves.

We know that’s steam or vapour
that is wafting from the pot.
You’ve witnessed water’s three-phased states
from freezing, warm and hot.

When solids change to liquid form
it’s called their melting point.
That temperature is different
for different elements.

Hot volcano temperatures
can melt Earth’s crusty rock
while Nitrogen on Triton’s only
found as gas or frost.

Elements and compounds can
exist in different phases,
solid, liquid or as gas.
It varies as heat changes.

And out in space those temperatures
can really be extreme
from freezing void to hottest sun
and all that’s in between.

But even in our universe
the coolest it can go
is measured as one Kelvin,
never Absolute Zero.

This name describes the temperature
where atoms fail to move.
If Thermo turned their music off
they couldn’t even groove!