From _Adventures of a Degenerate Electron_ --- Bruce Altner

INSIDE A WHITE DWARF

                        Oh, now I am a swimmer,
                     But I don't know how I got here.
                     There are swimmers by the millions,
                     Darting through the Fermi Sea.

                        Through the crush that chokes and smothers
                     I swim with all my brothers,
                     Somehow always going faster
                     In an ever-growing horde.

                        How I weary of the straining!
                     (But not to sound complaining),
                     I yearn to rest my tired nodes
                     Down in some quiet shell.

                        But St. Pauli isn't soothing.
                     He says, ``Best you keep on moving!
                     There's no such thing as slowing down
                     When swimming in the Fermi Sea!''

                        He says:
                     ``You've got to go a little faster,
                     Push a little harder,
                     Don't you know that letting up
                     Might bring the whole thing down?''

                        But no matter how I struggle,
                     I'm caught up in this bubble
                     And I guess that I'll be seeing you
                     On the other side of Time.