More from Mala Radhakrishnan's book of chemistry poetry, "Atomic Romances, Molecular Dances", coming soon!

"There’s “Na,” my sister. She’s over there.
Like me, she ought to be sealed up with care.
She’ll react with water or even the air,
Giving her ’lectron up anywhere.

And here is potassium. He is my brother,
Ionically bonding with things like no other.
Quite social like I am, and much like my sister,
He just met a halogen, has already kissed her!

My parents, “Rb” and “Cs” are they,
They’re dying to give their electrons away.
To ours are their properties mostly the same,
But they’re so extreme they can put us to shame.

You cannot see francium, here in this snap.
He left in a radioactive mishap.
The legend reports that he was unstable.
To me, his existence is merely a fable.

And there is a rumor that’s having a run,
That hydrogen’s my illegitimate son.
I swear he was left, though, on our front stoop,
And we’re not really sure he belongs in our group!"