A very light metal,
named after the crystal.
Beryl means sea green,
as well in emerald seen.

Already in ancient egypt,
on jewlery and crypt,
Those jewels have been known;
Pliny, the elder a synthesis method shown.

At the transition of eigtheenth to nineteenth century,
in France about Beryllium was furiosity,
It was declared as Glucine, a sweet salt,
but from German chemists came a halt.

Yttria was as well sweet,
and the rest of the world agreed,
Wöhler could extract Beryllium pure,
Antoine Bussy very close after him for sure,

A new element identified,
and for Beryllium there is no need to hide.
It is in most of the terms excellent,
some even say mangnificient.

It is used as x-ray window in medicine,
for that it has to be very clean,
it does not absorb the ray,
so neither energy nor intensity decay.

Artefact free signals guaranteed,
for synchotron and analytics a high need.
As metal it is like a wonder material,
strong, light, availeability uncritical,

miltary, aerospace, space, formula one,
with Beryllium superiority mode is on.
So why haven’t you heared about it?
There is probably a but in the wonder kit.

Beryllium and Oxygen like each other,
and it is the metal oxide which is the bother.
Berylliosis is a grave disease,
no cure, no treatment, no release,

A third dies, slowly and painful,
a third, survives with a disabled lung,
A third is immune and stays unaffected,
the reason why stays undetected.

Beryllium, probably the solution for everything,
for most applications the king,
with oxygen it is a killer,
turning your life to a thriller,

it is manufactured under extreme care,
direct human contact very rare.
Better save than sorry,
the Beryllium story.