c = 299,792,458 meters per second (in a vacuum)

The speed of light is always c
no matter what your own speed be.
So Dee and me
said why don't we
see if this can really be.

Dee drove her domestic Model T,
I my foreign MGB,
and together we drove towards we,
I towards Dee,
Dee towards me.

I drove towards Dee at exactly 30,
and Dee towards me at exactly 3.
I measured Dee,
Dee measured me.
We both came up with 33.

We shined our head lights brilliantly.
We acted, oh, so scientifically
by showing no impartiality,
though we both knew a constant c
must surely be a fish story.

I measured Dee's luminosity towards me.
Dee measured my luminosity towards she,
and we both measured exactly c
regardless of the added 33.
We thought it time for psychiatry.

We thought “Aha, let's see,
what if we drive apart from we?”
I from Dee,
Dee from me.
What then will be the speed of c?

The results were the same as previously.
The speed of light was always c
no matter what our own speed be.
So Dee and me said, "Why don't we
accept this as reality?"

It seems there is complicity,
for space and time act contractually,
and mutually share responsibility
for keeping c at exactly c
with no irregularity.

© Paul Greenberg 1997 http://www.touroftime.com

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