The Autobiography of Cement

Am I eternal? Am I indestructible? I ponder, looking at my past,

Have I defied time? I often wonder to feel my lust to last.

Born as a building aid in Sind, Greek, and Roman civilization,

I am proud to be an offspring of man’s pre-historic innovation.

Look at Pyramids, the Egyptian vanity, Colosseum, the Roman pride,

You will find me as the essence of their long survival stride.

Remember the offshore Eddystone lighthouse in English seas,

My bond and support could only save it from marine vagaries.

Standing with indomitable courage in many other heritage sites

I wonder how with water, lime, and sand, I performed such rites.

 With time, science and innovation crept deep inside me.

 Limestone, clay, and fire joined hands to bestow impish glee.

I turned into a material that was stronger and sturdy.

I was named ‘Portland cement’ by Joseph Aspdin, my daddy.

Twenty-first October 1824 was the day of my reincarnation,

I feel sorry for myself, as you hold no anniversary, no celebration.

 I found me, however, in high popular demand with awe and pleasure.

I realized my intrinsic capacity to form ‘concrete’ as my treasure.

I picked up stone chips and river sand to be my closest mates,

With three of us, dipped together in water, I created roads and estates.

One day, however,  I discovered I was deficient in something essential.

Though my capacity to withstand compressive forces was phenomenal,

My stamina to resist tensile stresses was far too low to be existential.

To make me fit for all situations I needed something more providential. 

French engineers Coignet & Monier proposed a miraculous solution.

In the mid-nineteenth century, I embraced metals in concrete composition.

Becoming ‘reinforced cement concrete’ in 1853 was my new incarnation.

A four-story house built in the Paris suburb was the first RCC construction.

My urge and ambition to become eternal remained unabated,

Novel ways and means to stay firm continued to be invented.

I understood the benefit of quenching my thirst with less water,

I picked up some chemicals in medicinal dose, called a plasticizer.

It dawned on me that it was merrier to have more friends,

I invited ‘slag’, ‘fly ash’, and similar partners from other ends.

As a leader of a big team, I started competing with steel and metals,

I saw myself smiling in tall buildings, motorways, dams, and canals.

Warm or cold, humid or dry, no conditions stop me to gleam,

My mates and I move in a team to realize a builder’s dream.

My performance in the concrete building may boggle your mind,

If you learn how chemicals I prevent and cause steel to bind.

I bring pleasure to architects in allowing me to be aesthetic,

By creating solid waves, spheres, or forms more stylistic.

Yet I am blamed here and there that I am inimical to habitat,

Energy and emissions from my inherence spoil the climate.

I urge you to believe that hardly one can justify this accusation,

I am better than metals and polymers in energy and emission.

I entreat you to believe that I am next to food and water,

I have shaped human society for life, work, and leisure.

I have rhymed with time to offer benevolent service to you,

It is my luck that no progeny is in sight or in the queue.

Remember, I have served you with glory for millennia,

And, despite your motives, I do not see any end to my era.