Chemical Elements Poems 30: Quintessence

In ancient times it was taught
There was air and water, fire and earth
Some thought there was a fifth
 to make it all complete.

Democritus and Galilei
Mendeleev and Lavoisier
Said all was atoms
Nothing more or less.
Ether proved ethereal.

Now learned astronomers
track the motions of the stars
and find there must be
more under the sun. 

One hundred eighteen elements
are known to us
and yet
five-sixths of the universe
must be made of
something else.