There was an old carbon who lived in a shoe.
She made so many compounds, she didn’t know what to do.
When she found other carbons, she couldn’t refrain
From covalently bonding with them in a chain.

And bonding with carbons wasn’t all she could do,
She grabbed hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen too.
Long chain or short chain, sometimes in a ring,
These compounds of carbon could do anything.

There are sugars and starches, the fuels that we eat.
Hydrocarbons like methane will generate heat.
The aromas we smell and the flavors we taste,
Even paper and plastic are all carbon based.

Carbon is found in each part of a cell:
DNA, RNA, and enzymes as well.
Nine million compounds showed carbon her worth.
Without her there could be no life on this earth.

Based on There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
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