Ode to a Double Helix
In honor of Chem 211

Oh double helix!
I denature with passion
To base pair with you
eternally.

Such a luxury I am allowed
Manipulating my environment to
become ever closer
Crawling under and between the sulfide bonds.

Look with sorrow on
Adenine and Cytosine.
requited love
yet with hydrogen bonds they reach and strive
only to be sterically repelled.
Stuck with an opposite
in a prearranged marriage by time

Once they tried to rebel and lose
Their sulky mates
Thymine and Guanine.
But their trek was stopped by
Mother histones clucking in dismay
Unwilling to help
in the unraveling plot.

So remains these unhappy acids
Aching together
Longing apart
But with such passion
they become free
For you
my beloved double helix
denature for me.

September 19, 1999