[Verse 1] Cerium, fifty-eight, first spark off the flint's dark edge, Praseodymium, fifty-nine, green tint on the goggle's ledge, Neodymium, sixty, the magnet that won't let go, Promethium, sixty-one, fire stole from the gods, kept low, Samarium, sixty-two, sleeps deep where the rock stays cold, Numbers climbing quiet, a story slowly told. [Chorus] Terra rara, minha rima vai contar, Cério, Praseodímio, no fundo do luar, Ce-Pr-Nd-Pm, sussurra baixinho, Sm-Eu-Gd, continua o caminho, Fourteen sisters lined in the shimmer and the shade, Rare earth, not rare — just hard to persuade. [Verse 2] Europium, sixty-three, red glow on the TV screen, Gadolinium, sixty-four, the MRI's quiet sheen, Terbium, sixty-five, born from Ytterby stone, Dysprosium, sixty-six, "hard to get" — stands alone, Holmium, sixty-seven, named for Stockholm's crown, Erbium, sixty-eight, laser light cutting down. [Bridge] Four names, one village — Ytterby by the water, Terbium, erbium, ytterbium, and yttrium's daughter. Listen close, there's a penumbra round this row — a half-shadow, a soft edge where light starts to go dim and slow. Holmium's Stockholm, thulium's the frozen Thule, Lutetium's Paris — old Lutetia's jewel. [Verse 3] Thulium, sixty-nine, named for a myth up north, Ytterbium, seventy, quiet cousin coming forth, Lutetium, seventy-one, closes out the row, Lucent and pale, the last soft afterglow. Fourteen elements, one long silver seam, Sewn beneath the crust like a half-remembered dream. [Chorus] Terra rara, minha rima vai contar, Cério, Praseodímio, no fundo do luar, Tb-Dy-Ho, Er-Tm segue, Yb-Lu, o círculo prossegue, Fourteen sisters lined in the shimmer and the shade, Rare earth, not rare — just hard to persuade. [Verse 4] Dig them from the clay in Bayan Obo's dust, Wind turbines spinning on a neodymium trust, Every phone that hums holds a sliver of this line, Every missile guided by a magnet's quiet design, They call it rare but it's the refining that is hard, Acid baths and patience, ton by ton, hard-scarred. From Mountain Pass to inner Mongolia's vast plain, The world runs on these fifteen, hidden in plain terrain, Lanthanum too rides along, though it starts the chain's first line, Fifteen cousins, one family — geology's design, Buried in monazite, bastnäsite, and the sand, A quiet empire scattered soft across the land. [Chorus] Terra rara, minha rima vai contar, Cério, Praseodímio, no fundo do luar, Ce-Pr-Nd-Pm, sussurra baixinho, Sm-Eu-Gd, continua o caminho, Fourteen sisters lined in the shimmer and the shade, Rare earth, not rare — just hard to persuade. [Outro] Ytterby whispers, Stockholm, Thule, Paris too, Fourteen quiet names still glowing soft and blue. Terra rara... dorme... mas não se esquece, Cerium to Lutetium — the chunk that never ceases.
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