End of the experiment

It was to be expected, wasn't it?
Isn't this how all experiments end?
At least the controlled ones,
The scientific ones,
The "proper" ones;
Where the experimenter has prepared
The specimens with care,
Divided them neatly into two groups —
Control group and experimental group —
And carefully tested for one variable?

All such experiments end one way,
Regardless of what happens
To the hypothesis:
Disproven or not yet disproven.
(As scientists incessantly remind us:
Good hypotheses are falsifiable,
And hence can never truly be proven.
Their best hope
Is constant fortification
By surviving several experiments.)

The way all experiments end
Is at the laboratory sink.
Where flask, pipette and petri dish
Are cleansed of the last vestige
Of all specimens —
Control or experimental.

The experimenter, being well-pleased
With data so meticulously gathered,
Is expected to have scant respect
For his now-used, now-worthless specimens.
It's not a moral question for him,
It's simply following protocol.
For this is how experiments must end:
"Please wash all equipment when you're done."