In high-school chemistry class,

We were told of acid and base,

pH numbers define fail or pass,

With red-blue litmus trace. 

Ions — only a precious few,

Need change place in molecules —

To switch between the two,

And invert according to pH rules.

Why are we so urgently pained 

That ions are playing switcheroo?    

‘Cause so very many are entrained,

To change litmus red to blue!

Oh — it’s oceans of which I speak,

And the one third carbon dioxide

That we spew out each week

And is absorbed atmosphere wide.

Animal shells are calcium carbonate

That needs alkalinity to exist,

But the world’s oceans, of late,

To carbonic acid have begun to twist.  

CO₂’s making for acidic oceans,

And it’s dissolving coral and shells,

Absent coral reefs and crustaceans,

For ocean life — extinction spells!   

“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

For want of a few ions in balance …

© 2008 R. Leland Waldrip