At the Start, Hydrogen heaved ho.
Helium laughed. Lithium lay low while Beryllium became bemused.
But Boron bore the burden of all the work yet to be done.
Then Carbon was conceived, and came forth in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, surrounded by angelic hosts of other elements, celebrated as the great center-point of history. He would go on to bring myriads of other elements together in peace and productivity, but in latter days was criticized for attaching himself to everybody’s business.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, good ole Nitrogen nourished all the stuff that came later.
Oxygen got involved and opened a whole new way of life.
Fluorine flew flags of fluorescence for all to see.
Neon knew nothing but nonsense, but was neutral enough to practice non-intervention.
Sodium solved a lot of problems, and he's all over the map with that
Magnesium managed to make itself useful.
Aluminum lightened everybody’s load.
Silicon solidified his/her position, early on in the sands of time, and then later went on to establish a ubiquitous presence in the science of small smart circuits.
Meanwhile Phosphorus flamed along, brightening the path for others.
Sulfur suffered through a lot.
Chlorine clung to just about everything, cleaning house along the way, but has been known to kill when too excited.
Argon atoms are gone until somebody proves their actual existence.
Potassium produces plenteously.
Calcium is known as a great collector of a lot of stuff.
Scandium is scant. Titans use Titanium to tighten up their tridents.Vanadium is very strong, while Chromium captures all the attention. Manganese manages to make good use of itself.
Iron Age innovations initiated innumerable inventions.
Cobalt combines with others to combat corrosion.
Nickel has made itself a necessity.
Copper's a good cop, conducts a lot of traffic.
Amazing Zinc sets up rustless zones wherever it goes. Thank God.
And then there's Gallium; it has the gall to call itself a metal, as if it were a major player along with iron and nickel and all those other big-time movers and shakers.
Germanium is a dope in silicon valley. Arsenic is also a real dope, but reputed to be a pathological killer when let out of his cell. He hides behind old lace.
Selenium periodically illuminates this end of the Table, while Bromine combines medicinally and then resigns.
Krypton is a rare super-phenom found only in old comics of the 1950’s.
Now here's the line-up for the second Period:
Rubidium rules while Strontium drools— radioactivity, that is— 90 times a second, I think, and then renders all those other metalistic johnny-come-lately wannabees as metalla non grata.
If we keep this mining expedition going long enough, we could find lucky ole Silver hiding under the Table.
Along the way we're bound to kick up that perennial also-ran can—Tin— he comes to town and makes the rounds, but always ends up wasting away in a landfill, a real slacker if there ever was one.
And I mean, sure, there are some bright spots on the Periodic Table. There’s the star of the show, gold, hiding down there in the middle of the pack, and glinting in at a clandestine #79. Highly-prized all the time, but he's oh-so-hard to find, unless you’ve got a really big credit line.
Every now and then you may catch sight of that tempereal Mercury, but its hard to pin him down. He never stays in one place long enough to amount to anything. He’s got a really hot temper, but, I'm told, a cold personality.
Down there in the middle of the defensive line there’s the Lead heavyweight-- not very fast, but good on the line-- a good blocker for those fast Uranium backs.
Uranium backs are the stars of the show, you know, forever racking up the big stats. But most of them are real hot shots, and if their temper gets worked up, you can't get rid of 'em. The refs kick 'em out of the game, but they hang around for a long time like they own the place and make trouble for anybody who crosses their path. Don't cross 'em. If they get really fired up they'll go plutonium on ya and that's all she wr
Glass Chimera
