[Verse 1]
Two long bones live beneath your sleeve, partners since the start,
The radius is the ray of a wheel, spinning like a dart,
Turn your palm up toward the sky, that's called supination,
Flip it down, pronation's name, a thumb-side rotation,
The radius rolls across its friend, a hinge that loves to roam,
While the ulna holds the line, the steady metronome.
[Chorus]
Radius spins, a spoke on a wheel,
Ulna's the elbow, the anchor you feel,
One word for turning, one word for the hinge,
Spoke and elbow, remember the fringe,
Olecranon's the point where you lean on the table,
Radius and ulna — twins in a fable.
[Verse 2]
Ulna means elbow, or forearm whole, an ancient word, I'm told,
Kin to the "ell," a tailor's rule for measuring cloth of old,
A yard of fabric, arm to thumb, that's how they'd cut and sew,
The ulna's crown, the olecranon, Greek for "elbow's head you know,"
Lean your weight on a desk all day, that bony point takes strain,
It's the funny-bone's quiet neighbor, nerves that spark the pain.
[Chorus]
Radius spins, a spoke on a wheel,
Ulna's the elbow, the anchor you feel,
One word for turning, one word for the hinge,
Spoke and elbow, remember the fringe,
Olecranon's the point where you lean on the table,
Radius and ulna — twins in a fable.
[Verse 3]
Eighteen-fourteen, Abraham Colles found a break near the wrist,
The fragment tips toward the back of the hand, a silhouette you can't miss,
Side view looks like a dinner fork, tines bent up in the air,
That's the Colles fracture's signature, a fall caught unaware,
Flip the tilt toward the palm instead, now Smith has made his claim,
Same bone, opposite direction, a mirrored, twisted frame.
[Verse 4]
Monteggia breaks the ulna's shaft while the radial head jumps free,
Dislocated, wandering loose, a rebel refugee,
Galeazzi's the flip side of that coin, the radius snaps in two,
And the wrist joint pops its socket, dislocation breaking through,
Two fractures, mirrored cousins, each teaching where to look,
One at the elbow, one at the wrist, both pages in the book.
[Bridge]
A toddler tugged by a tiny wrist, swung up by a careless hand,
The radial head slips its ligament leash — nursemaid's elbow, understand,
No cast, no break, just a gentle twist, a doctor's practiced turn,
The little arm pops back in place — a lesson toddlers learn.
[Outro]
Spoke of a wheel, elbow of bone,
Radius and ulna, never alone,
Fork tips back, or fork tips in,
Colles and Smith beneath the skin,
Remember the names, remember the lean,
The quietest bones hold the loudest scene.