A chemical adaptation of something memorized as a child:
Distilling by Drops on a Friday Evening
What drops these are, I think I know
Although they're coming very slow.
They do not care if I wait here
When really I would rather go.
My normal friends must think it queer
To stay on Friday, not drink beer;
Between the bench and cluttered hood
The longest evening of the year.
They give the telephone a ring
To ask if something they could bring;
Or, at least I wish they would -
Some pizza would be very good.
The pot is tarry, dark and deep,
But drop by drop the drips do creep;
And mLs to go before I sleep,
And mLs to go before I sleep.
If you've ever had to do a distillation in a chem lab, you understand how this goes. The above was published in a September issue of Chemical & Engineering News, 1987. It was written in February during a postdoctoral stint in South Carolina. I showed it late in the summer to a fellow chemist who suggested that it be published, which it soon was. I think it's ok to reproduce it here. Haven't done distillations for quite a while though. Thanks for reading all of this tiny print.
Friday, January 27, 2006
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3 comments:
made me smile
the number of times i read/"taught" the original to students
your version would make for a great discussion
nice one
Cambridge, MA: I cut this poem out of C&E news twenty years ago when I was doing a lot of distilling myself and posted it above my desk or bench through a number of jobs. I lost it in a move a couple years back and have mourned its loss since. I was shocked when I found it on a Google search today! My daughter has just developed a love of Frost and I could only remember two of the stanzas. Now I can torment her with the whole thing! It's quite clever, and I thank you writing it then for posting it now. I (Amazing how you can touch someone's life unknowingly...)
mg - thank you - this is rather amazing, making this kind of connection...I in turn will of course tell the story multiple times to my children, but I hope they still find a place for Robert Frost. Thank you so much for this note, and best wishes to you and your daughter.
Steve
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