Girl with emphysema

Short of breath, persistently coughing
The girl with emphysema is blocking
Her plate with bitumen
Sans a mask, if you please

Her peeling fingers the aftermath
Of her dalliance with the acid bath
No gloves in sight, the technical staff
Watch and weep

How can it not end up sadly?
Breathing in rosin like candy?
Why is she limping so badly?
When it’s plain all that she had to do
Was invest in a sturdy closed shoe

Refused to use the extraction fan
Ignored the ‘No food or drinking’ ban
Skipped the material safety data sheets

​It dawns too late that she mightn’t be
The girl with emphysema had she
Just thought to wear the appropriate
P.P.E.
Why didn’t she?
Wear P.P.E.?

Antônio Carlos Jobim & Normal Gimbel, Girl from Ipanema, 1962