Molybdenum

Evelin Csanyi

Scheele first said
I’m not your common graphite
Lead may have my looks
but I melt at higher Fahrenheits
Who am I? Simply –
A catalyst of lives
without me evolution
would not have thrived
one could say
42 is truly the answer to life.

Yet much of my time
I spent singing lullabies
of missiles,
to put the art in artillery
hidden role in history –
Forcing Constantinople
on its knees
with gunpowder and blood
a cannon with a price tag
I have led the way
out of the medieval sieging wars.
Who am I?
Underappreciated metal
until steel failed to provide:
I sailed the Atlantic sea
to strengthen the bones
of a high temperature
mass destruction device –
Before me, Big Bertha
was still infant and fragile.
Fighting on both sides
I have been the blade,
the bullet and the projectile
for my alloys aided allies
under tired busy hands
before the 9-5 .  95
million Reichsmarks
have marked my price.

Who am I?
I was there in every sigh
behind boastful smiles
and fearful eyes
in trace amounts
for without me
you cannot survive
my request to you is
to use Molybdenum
for engines, lubricants or satellites,
A vessel of damage – I won’t allow –
It is time
to take off the camouflage.