Copyright 2010
O Brain O Glorious Brain
In my life
You have been the cause of my highest and my lowest
Without you, I am nothing but sand of the earth
And with, you I have mind and soul
Giving life its true joy and meaning
Aristotle miscalled you
and gave your function to my dear dear heart
I suspect you looked so dumb and gray
next to the pounding and passionately red heart
Who could have thought otherwise
in those days of early exploration.
And in scholalrly pursuits
You have been my nemesis for so many years
You have scared me to delve
An approach to you from the outside
Brought clefts and gyrations
That could drive any limbic system wild
With great complexity of name and number
Your parts have puzzled
and each successor anatomist has named them differently
So whom to believe?
Your fore part mid part and hind part have confounded with
prosen mesen and rhomben cephalons
and then adding the telen dien meten and myelen part of the Cephalon family
just poured salt to the wounds of a twisted tongue and brain
The shapes of your structure led to the
choroid plexus – a delicate knot,
the falx – a sickle,
the crista galli – a crest of the cock ,
the cerebellum, a little brain and the
amygdala, a little organ named after a big nut – the almond
While the worm of them all – the vermis, positioned in the crotch of the little brain.
The character of your structure reminded some of the the nature of mothers
The duramater acting like the tough mother
and the pia mater the soft and delicate one
You are fortunate to have both protecting you!
Time and curiosity has started to uncover your true nature
And your secret seems to lie in your incerdible organization
And your ability to connect the dots of all the parts
Fore and aft
Up and Down
Your organization and connectivity are meticulous
So that instruction and feedback
Checks and balances
Happen at incredible speed and efficiency
And in number with all those billions of cells working together
You have power
To create at the highest supratentorial level
An Einstein whose 5 symbols brought simplicity to complexity
and changed the world forever
And on the other hand
you made
A Hitler whose power yielded unfathomable and disgusting cruelty
which changed the world forever as well
And I therefore cannot trust you – always
Your sensory instruments ensure our awareness
And your motor section through contraction and secretion move us in so many ways
While your autonomic section
Brings the symphony of body function together
Ensuring that all are playing their parts in harmony
And each realising their full potential
Giving not too much and not too little and taking and using just enough
Our society and government have much to learn from you O wise one
From the happy society of your structure and function
Giving each and all full power of function
Without too much or too little but just enough
In vivo we had many years before we could see you
But you were the first to be exposed by computed tomography
Unlike many of the others below you
You have a calm and controlled outward appearance
Despite the buzz inside you
As a result you sit still and smile for the camera
And look so beautiful in the image of the CT and MRI
Now functional MRI and PET are bringing us new insights into your function
And we are slowly learning your intricate ways
Yet we have a ways to go
O Brain O Brain
You sometimes drive me insane
OBryan ONiarb OBrine
I sometimes read you upside down
Or front to back
Your complexity astounds
and I stand in awe
and ponder how there could be so so many
who read “brain”
And I cry for those who read “niarb”
Since without your full function
One is cheated out of the full capacity
To be on top of life
I cry when I see the demon in you
and stand back in awe when I see the
Einsteins, Mozarts, Mother Theresas, Gandhis, Shakespeares, Lincolns, Dames Sutherland, Fonteyns and da Vincis –
We should all pray for the latter group and sanity to lead our civilization
Not too much and not too little
I worry sometimes.