Berberine
(a new version of Sing a Song of Sixpence)*
Add a shot of colour,
A tree root full of salt
Sunk in Chinese goldthread
Stored in a vault
When the root was studied
Yellow began to shine
What a tetracyclic ring
to set as nature’s sign
A shell was in its rhizome house
growing out its garnish
The cork was in the Amur
Forming gold and varnish
The dye was in the cauldron
Tripping out some cells
When all of the blue light
showed its pretty glows
After the light launch
a man named Wren saw
the beauty in these plants
and wanted to learn more
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*Iona and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997)