newts unlimited

neoteny keeps dogs big-eyed and cute
adults retain a suite of puppy traits
a bit like an adult Mexican newt
with awesome powers to regenerate
an axolotl keeps its stem-cells primed
to differentiate from stem to stern
what other vertebrates keep strictly time-
-delimited to embryonic term
what limits cancers, if it's not Hayflick?
do they senesce or bask in endless youth?
we who face death with Time's each tock and tick
look to amphibians to glimpse this truth
the surgeons who sweat blood to graft a hand
have much biology to understand