A question that started
In Dar Es Salaam
Has puzzled us all
Since the world began.

The question is asked
And left dangling there…
No answer is offered,
It just isn’t fair.

If an answer isn’t wanted.
Well that’s just the thing,
How blooming long, is this…
Supposed piece of string?

Now everyone says it
From paupers to Kings –
Is it so crucial,
The length of a string?

I bet it was coined –
By the Emperor Ming…
The inscrutable question,
About daft lengths of string.

Wait a minute, I have it,
Wasn’t it Chow Le Wo Chan
Who said that string is…
“Twice half the height …

Of a small Chinaman”!

Mike