Poem for the day: from the world of science

So, there I was watching a program on Newtonian physics and the intellectual inquiries that kept accelerating since his time, and about 20 minutes was about electromagnetism and Maxwell.  It was fantastic. 
I suppose when I was younger I was way too keen on solving the assigned problems (which I did, really well too!!! ahem!!!) and didn't have the patience, nor the right kind of teacher, for understanding the profound importance of the ideas and the history of those scientific achievements.

Everyday life now owes a lot to Maxwell and his contributions to physics.  That was not quite news to me.  But, what was news was how much he was more than just an awesome physicist--he was multidimensional, as most extraordinary people seem to be ... And the story of how this casual poem, which I have copied/pasted here is way too cool ...

It was an exciting time of the first ever trans-Atlantic cable.  Samuel Morse comes up with the single-line telegraph and Morse Code, and the world begins to shrink, so to say.  The next logical thing then was to link up Europe to the emerging economic powerhouse--the US.  But, this required undersea cabling.  Quite a technological challenge for the day, I would imagine.
Maxwell's friend--a fellow Scot as well--Thompson (later, Lord Kelvin) was the technical guy behind it, but apparently the company did not follow his instructions.  So, a failed first attempt--as the ship moved along unreeling the cable, it snapped somewhere under the sea!  Of course, the next time they followed the instructions and everything worked.

So, here is Maxwell writing a poem about this ... Now, writing verses was apparently not any unfamiliar territory for him, as this collection in an 1882 work notes
And, a quick note on the "2(u)" ... for the sake of efficiency in communication (!) Maxwell used "2(u)" to denote "Under the sea, under the sea"

THE SONG OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY
I.
2(u)
Mark how the telegraph motions to me,
2(u)
Signals are coming along,
With a wag, wag, wag;
The telegraph needle is vibrating free,
And every vibration is telling to me
How they drag, drag, drag,
The telegraph cable along,

II.
2(u)
No little signals are coming to me
2(u)
Something has surely gone wrong,
And it’s broke, broke, broke;
What is the cause of it does not transpire,
But something has broken the telegraph wire
With a stroke, stroke, stroke,
Or else they’ve been pulling too strong.

III.
2(u)
Fishes are whispering. What can it be,
2(u)
So many hundred miles long?
For it’s strange, strange, strange,
How they could spin out such durable stuff,
Lying all wiry, elastic, and tough,
Without change, change, change,
In the salt water so strong.

IV.
2(u)
There let us leave it for fishes to see;
2(u)
They’ll see lots of cables ere long,
For we’ll twine, twine, twine,
And spin a new cable, and try it again,
And settle our bargains of cotton and grain,
With a line, line, line,—
A line that will never go wrong.

Source