How Healing Crawls

Epithelial liquid crystals,
Symmetrical at two different scales,
If modeled as fluid dynamics,

Could predict how wounds heal as skin crawls.
Detailed symmetries of skin cell sheets
In degrees of crystalline order

Refract light differently depending
On their orientation, magic
Of modern liquid crystal displays.

Nematic and hexatic exist
Simultaneously, nematic
At one scale, hexatic scales smaller.

In cells, then, as in liquid crystals,
And as in poetry, form forces
Function, easing any prediction,

But once you run the simulation
And know exactly what forces next,
Can you dream what those predictions mean?