Nephron And Tulip Poem by Paul Hartal

The nephron never saw the sunlight.
Yet he was a very curious nephron
and decided to peer into the outside
world somehow. He was talking about
this a great deal and in the end his friends
came to help him. They built for him
a periscope.

The nephron looked through
the ocular lens, prisms and mirrors
of the apparatus and the first thing
that came into his view was a red tulip.
"Oh, you are so beautiful",
said the nephron.

"I hardly can hear you", said the tulip,
"but thank you. And who are you?
if I may ask".

"I am a nephron, a structural and
functional unit of the kidney.
Together with about one million
of my colleagues, we are renal stars
in our kidney galaxy. We filter the blood,
take and reabsorb what is needed
and eliminate the wastes from the body."

"Quite fascinating", said the tulip.

"Oh, I wish that you and I become
good friends, " said the nephron.

"I'm sorry", said the tulip, "but under
the circumstances this seems to be
impossible. I don't think that in our
prevailing conditions we can be real
friends and have a lasting relationship."

"Then perhaps we could develop
sort of a Platonic love relationship",
suggested the nephron.

"All right", said the tulip.
"We might try that. Send me, please,
an email."