C. elegans is multicellular and consists of precisely 959 somatic cells, in contrast to the billions present in humans. This limited number makes it possible to trace every single cell from a fertilized egg to a fully formed organism.

 

Moreover, cell death (apoptosis) in C. elegans is not unpredictable, as it often is in humans. Rather, it is embedded within the organism’s developmental blueprint. It is possible to know exactly which cell will undergo apoptosis and at which specific point in the cell cycle. During development, the worm produces exactly 1,090 cells, of which 131 die at precise times and positions (as mapped by John Sulston).

​

This is both narratively and compositionally significant. Narratively, it reinforces the poem’s central idea that human love is bound to fail, as the predictability and exactitude of cell death mirror the inevitable loss of one lover, leaving the remaining cell, the protagonist, left to reunite with their first love—the Man in the Mist, representing Christ—thus gestures toward an eschatological end. From a compositional perspective, the ability to create musical time stamps at predetermined points of change allows for greater predictability, thereby enhancing rhythmic efficiency.

​

​