An old story of life


i.
   A code, a vital cipher rests inside
   The seat of ev'ry cell of any kind,
   Identical and replicate, a guide,
   An evanescent blueprint, undesign'd.
   As angel's hair, in filigrees unplann'd,
   Like serpents, helices enwrap, combine,
   Entwin'd and twirl'd, these tortive, wreathen strands,
   Decide, dictate, delineate, define.
   Attenuate and taeniate (and wound
   In spirals sinuous) the pairs of twin
   Phosphoric sugar'd backbones coil'd, bound;
   A mere four letters varying within.
     A masterplan prescribing ev'ry trait
     That is possess'd: compact, complete, choate.

ii.
   Begin the steps with which life is express'd
   In concrete form from abstract template, but
   Exonic fragments only, while suppress'd,
   Remainder'd junklets, ort-strewn splicings cut.
   On scribes' approach, seducees acquiesce;
   Its quarry met, pursuer ends its chase
   With factor'd kiss, promoted tryst, caress,
   Preluding an adulterous embrace.
   By gently rippling eyelet, peephole splay'd,
   Usurper cleaves the twins, eschewing one;
   Once text is read, and mirror'd copy made,
   Volute reverts, parenthesis undone.
     At terminus, from downstream split, a clone,
     Flies nascent transcripp'd messenger, alone.

iii.
   Away from ribbon'd cores, a shunn'd impasse,
   The heralds flee their parents geminate,
   Diffusing out throughout host's plasm mass,
   They seek and spy, pursue, disseminate.
   A-quest the dancing heralds nimbly flit,
   To find a weaving sibling and reveal
   The vital threads together that they knit --
   Didactic filament and spinning-wheel.
   From invert rules, their letters group'd in threes,
   Cross-loops of clover-leaf transfer, translate;
   Until a stop is found amongst the keys,
   Multiparous the looms intercalate.
     Completion.  The participants retreat
     And circle on: reprise, recur, repeat.

iv.
   Each woven amine sequence forming rays
   Anfractuous, in rivel'd ravel'd skeins,
   A plexus folding in, entwist'd maze;
   Attractions vary'd ruck entangling chains.
   Resultant raddl'd strains of ev'ry sort
   Repel invaders, course, communicate;
   And others do yet more: propel, support,
   Enliven, catalyse, and suscitate.
   Though miniscule these gossamers, throughout
   Creation not a mite nor mote could take
   A halting step or feeble breath without
   Each moke, each net, each nest, each mesh opaque.
     And only once remade, arch-cipher, true,
     Does bootstrapp'd cycle start afresh, anew.