Might I proffer upon this hour
A toast
A taste
A sip
Of power?
For in the lab
We have and had
Formulated
A serum
Derived from an arcane
Forbidden
Theorem
You see
When I was young apprenticed
To a fine and noble dentist
Oft we dwelt
In cavities of madness
Delving matters born of sadness
Cloying candy-sweet
One should not
But tamper with
Vanity’s flattering temptation
Or sugar’s excavation
But the dentist saw in every cavity
A duty to spare humanity
And though…
His mind prodigious…
And his wits…
Refined, religious
This night
He sought to make himself
As a God
By bestowing
Naught but life
Upon a lifeless pod
A tooth beyond redemption
Evil cavies’ excavation
Pulled for the pain
Now become bane
To us all
The wrenched lay on the slab
Enamel, gray-pocked and pale
Once gleaming crowned
Now deathly drowned
Roots bathed in ichor’s crimson stain
Obsessed
The doctor
Drew his serum…
Defied reason
Applied his theorem
Drawing tooth
Yet closer, closer near him
And it was there
Upon the gurney
Launched a molar’s monstrous journey
Dead, undead and chewing
Madness now ensuing
Fearsome fang eschewing
Arms and legs enameled
Reason’s grip unraveled
Growing pains contracted
And in a blink distracted
A tooth becomes a giant
To sanity’s defiance
Glistening with spittle
In pain, no longer little
Recognizing none
Not even parent
Despite dear dentist’s
Fatherly embrace
Life’s grind
All too apparent
My poor mentor’s
Masticated face
And the tooth
A tooth no longer
A mindless fiend
And ever stronger
Smashing straight through yonder wall
Through waiting room and hall
And we pray
Never to be seen again
And so join me in this toast
To our late and tragic host
And the demented demon dentin
That could have been prevented
With better hygiene and floss
Fluoride could have spared this loss
And so raise your glass and sip
Then gargle, rinse and spit
___
By Doodleslice 2025–10–30
Read the afterword on Medium (free friend link) https://medium.com/the-crooked-circle/one-late-night-bite-9d3eb6ca9336?sk=2ad18df056afa452fcdddc5e350b9650
