The blood is the epitome of life;

It travels through our highways known as veins.

With plasma and each tiny thrombocyte,

Leukocytes and red blood cells remain.

Each cell specifically completes a task:

The thrombocytes close off where vessels tore;

Erythrocytes, they transport all the gas;

And leukocytes defend but do far more.

The white corpuscles are seen in five types,

Each with a position that must be filled.

Group one, of two, is dubbed granulocytes;

The first within is named the neutrophil.

They eat fungi and bad bacteria,

House enzyme pouches known as lysosomes,

Follow a critical criteria

Of nuclei with two to five round lobes.

The eosinophils fight parasites.

Destroying cancer, draining histamine –

A bi-lobed nucleus in leukocytes –

The eosinophils vermilion stain.

The basophils, they are also bi-lobed.

Secreting histamine and heparin,

They sound alarms as if police lights strobed,

Alerting leukocytes of allergens.

The second group is agranulocytes;

Their cytoplasm is not granular.

Composed of monocytes and lymphocytes,

Specific cells that tend to live longer.

A monocyte will morph to macrophage

Large bacteria they’ll phagocytize

Presenting antigens, in wars they wage,

To T cells, helping us to immunize.

The lymphocytes ensure immunities,

Creating antibodies that defend.

With natural killer cells, T’s, and B’s,

Our bodies prep for future infection.

The blood is like the body’s interstate

Constructed to transport, communicate,

And defend when invaders’ threats are great.

To militaries our blood can relate.

Take time to see our natural majesty,

Intrinsic beauty lives in you and me.