The Lubricant of the Thinking (Smegma)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
In the dim light of Dr. John Ayrton Paris's office,
London, 1820, late afternoon, around four o'clock.
The brass microscope sits on the oak desk,
cold to the touch, fifteen degrees Celsius in the chill air.
He dips the quill into the inkwell, scratches notes
on yellowed paper from Pharmacologia.
Smegma, he writes, from the Greek smēgma,
meaning soap, a natural detergent of the body.

[Chorus]
Smegma, the lubricant of thinking,
sebaceous secretion, under the foreskin or around the clitoris.
First documented in English, 1819,
in medical texts discussing hygiene.
Paris notes: the secretions of the body,
if not attended to, may become sources of irritation.
Smegma, soap of the skin, cleansing quietly.

[Verse 2]
The room smells of carbolic soap and musty books,
a faint organic tang in the air.
A ceramic basin holds lukewarm water,
scalpel and forceps gleam beside it.
Bread and cheese on the side table, uneaten,
as Paris contemplates the body's hidden soap.
Pemba listens now, in our workshop,
eyes distant, pondering the word's clean origin.

[Bridge]
Ancient Greeks knew it without shame,
Romans washed it away in baths of marble.
No stigma in the etymology, just function,
like lubricant for the mind's turning gears.
Pemba nods, contemplates the page.

[Verse 3]
In 1820, the oil lamp flickers,
casting shadows on anatomical diagrams.
Paris, born 1785, died 1856,
writes for posterity, for us.
Smegma, he insists, is neutral,
a substance to observe, not to fear.

[Chorus]
Smegma, the lubricant of thinking,
sebaceous secretion, under the foreskin or around the clitoris.
First documented in English, 1819,
in medical texts discussing hygiene.
Paris notes: the secretions of the body,
if not attended to, may become sources of irritation.
Smegma, soap of the skin, cleansing quietly.

[Outro]
Pemba contemplates, the word settles like soap.