Taking their place
in the seventh row,
four new elements
briefly glow.

Verified all, there’s
heavy ununtrium,
heavier still
ununpentium,

quick to decay
ununseptium
and proton-packed
ununoctium.

Scientists say
they’ll have proper names –
let’s hope they won’t be
quite so arcane.

(First published in The Asses of Parnassus, 25 August 2016)