What hymn, what poem

‘For the world's biological scientists, Monday was G-Day - the announcement of the first draft of the human genetic code. Many began their careers believing this achievement was an impossible dream. But as the UK's top genome scientists emerged blinking from their laboratories into the glare of the first press conference in London, they could proudly announce that nearly all the code had been cracked… Photographers prowled and reporters howled, but though the researchers were shorn of their lab coats they were armoured with news of a changed world…All the back-slapping gave the atmosphere of an awards ceremony. The Wellcome Trust was thanked for bankrolling the UK's contribution. The men and women of the Sanger Centre were praised for their work, which was carried out "not for great financial gain or scientific kudos" but for public benefit. The engineers who built the equipment were lauded as the "great unsung heroes".’ Dr Damian Carrington, BBC News Online

‘The US president and the UK prime minister have hailed the rough draft of the entire human genetic code as "the most wondrous map ever produced by human kind". Their words followed news conferences around the world on Monday at which scientists jointly announced that they had obtained a near-complete set of the biochemical instructions for human life. The achievement is being called one of the most significant scientific landmarks of all time, comparable with the invention of the wheel or the splitting of the atom. The genetic information will revolutionise medicine over the coming decades, giving us new tests and drugs for previously untreatable diseases. Some fear it could also lead to the emergence of a genetic underclass - people who have inherited faulty code…To decipher the first draft, scientists had to read the three billion chemical "letters" strung out along the DNA spirals at the heart of nearly all our cells... Efforts would continue to fill in the gaps, they said, with a fully finished genome available within three years…President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair linked up via satellite to salute the work of the scientists. They said society had a duty to use the new information responsibly and for the benefit of all humankind.’ BBC Science


What hymn, what poem

What hymn, what poem
to tell of such things -

when words it seems
cannot cup, contain

this concept, shining idea -
largeness, smallness in one,

catching the rain in a silver soupspoon -
like that simple little poem of Relativity

everyone can memorise -
seeing the train, the clock,

fuzzy hair, (weirdly, Marilyn Monroe) -
is the skeleton of an enormous creature,

massive idea - with space, zillions of stars -
time and matter, spread across the Universe;

is only the boiled bones, bled for preservation,
comprehension - even its name carrying softer

flesh - ‘Theory of Relativity’ -
word garment of easier beauty.

But still austerity sharply shines -
the inexplicable power of symbol;

as these bright letters of the Human Genome,
revealed, are mightier than the recipe for stars.