Fra min gode ven og kemingeniørkollega, Knud Strange Nielsen, tidl. Hempel Skibsmaling, har jeg fået dette episke digt om rust.
Rust’s a Must by T.R.B. Watson, June 1974
Mighty ships upon the ocean
Suffer from severe corrosion,
Even those who stay dockside
Are rapidly becoming oxide
Alas that piling in the sea
Is mostly Fe[2]O[3].
And when the ocean meets the shore
You’ll find there is Fe[3]O[4],
‘Cause when the wind is salt and gusty
Things are getting awful rusty.
We can measure it, we can test it,
We can halt it, or arrest it,
We can gather it, we can weigh it,
We can coat it, we can spray it,
We examine and dissect it,
We cathodically protect it,
We can pick it up and drop it,
But heaven knows, we’ll never stop it.
So here’s to rust, no doubt about it,
Most of us will starve without it.