Grad student work

A poem, by Echoes

I've got reactions to tend
Tubing to mend
The floor to sweep
O'er broken glass weep
Distillation to try
Solvent to dry
I got literature to read
Crystals to seed
I've got columns to run
Group meeting's not done
My set-up's no good
I gotta clean up this hood
There are slides to be made
And lab reports to grade.

Shine on me, Sunday
My one precious day
When I can do laundry
No spare time to play.

Benevolent advisor
With your fiercest critique
Of my blood sweat and tears
My project let's tweak.

One final compound
Isolate, characterize
Carbon signal-to-noise
Is my desperate sought prize

My toiling frustration
Vitae carved in stone
I will soon raise a glass
To a PhD of my own.

with mild apologies to Maya Angelou