Gita Ashok

Even though you’re minuscule,
we call you a macromolecule.
The brainchild of Watson and Crick,
you make our biological clocks tick.

Being a double helix, you deserve a lot of attention
and you hold plenty of genetic information;
though at times you carry misinformation
which is when we say you have undergone mutation.

With a sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside
and many pairs of nitrogenous bases inside
where A bonds with T and C bonds with G,
you are truly packed with a lot of energy.

You hold the key to the destiny
of every little cell inside me.
You make us mortals grow, you let us repair
and you enable propagation of species everywhere.

You are often misused by genetic engineers;
yet you offer a new lease of life to many others.
You hold the blueprint for all protein,
You’re truly Mr. Monk’s hero in a crime scene.

02 June 2010
3 pm

This is a small attempt on my part to highlight some of the important properties of deoxyribonucleic acid – commonly called DNA that is the biochemical basis of all life. I have tried my best to keep it as simple as possible. A, T, C and G are the nitrogenous bases found in DNA and they are adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine, respectively.

My inspiration to write this came after I watched a popular crime serial called ‘Monk’ on the television recently. Mr. Monk plays the detective in it and he is the person I am referring to in the concluding line of this poem.