Paul Lake
February 2005

Martyr of Modernity


Christ had his cross. Antoine Lavoisier,
Discoverer of matter's conservation,
When sentenced by the frenzied Paris mob
For crimes against the state, used the occasion
To make a last experiment. To see
How long a brain could live deprived of blood,
He asked a friend to mount the guillotine
And lift his severed head and count his blinks
Before all thought devolved to chemistry,
Then bravely gazed until the last: thirteen.

First published in Poetry.