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Bonus Post: Sonnet for the P3 Lab
Mar. 28th, 2020 07:49 pm In commenting about my "ritual" for intake of take-out food, I was reminded of this poem I wrote back in the mid-80s when I was working in a biocontainment lab (level = "P3"). People might find some gallows humor in it. The particular organisms we had in that lab were bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis), Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD, a relative of mad cow), and Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis, cocci for short).
Sonnet for the P3 Lab
With ritual do I protect myself
Protect myself from demons of the air
From vap'rous spirits that would steal my health,
All things I cannot see, but know are there,
So for my work I carefully prepare,
My circle, not inscribed with blade of steel,
But signs of "Biohazard" and "Beware"
Contains those I would summon to my will
Now do I don the ritual attire
The robe, the gloves, the mask, and other things
Well purified by water and by fire
Since last I wore them here within the ring
My implements for sorcery I bring,
And step by step I work the spell I've planned
Invoking Pasteur's name I chant and sing
As ancient dusty tomes of lore command
Now summon I the demons, each by name,
Yersinia pestis, cocci, CJD,
I call them up safe knowing I can tame
These evil spirits by my sorcery
But should I fail what ritual decrees,
One step misplaced, forgotten, or ill-done
One opportunity the wraiths can seize,
My circle broken, all my charms undone
Then shall the demons here escape my will
And, as their nature is, then shall they kill.
