There are mesons pi, there are mesons mu,
The former ones serve as nuclear glue
there are mesons tau, or so we suspect
And many more mesons wich we cant’ yet detect
Can’t you see them at all?
Well, hardly at all
For their lifetimes are short
And their ranges are small.
The mass may be small, the mass may be large,
We may find a positive or negative charge,
And some mesons never will show o a plte
For theur charge is zero, though their mass is quite great
What, no charge at all?
No, no charge at all!
Or, if Blackettis right
It’s exceedingly small
Some beautiful pictures are thrown on the screen,
Through the tracks of the mesons can hardly be seen,
Our desire for knowledge is most deeply stirred
When the statements fo Serber can never be heard.
What, not heard at all?
No, not heard at all!
Very, dimly seen
And not heard at all!
There are mesons lambda at the end of our list
Which are hard to be found but are easily missed,
in cosmic-ray showers they live and they die
But you can’t get a picture, they are camera-shy.
Well, do they exist?
Or don’t they exist?
They are on our list
But are easily missed.
From mesons all manner of forces, you get,
The infinite part you simply forget,
the divergence is large, the divergence is small,
In the meson field quanta there is no sense at all.
What, no sense at all?
No, no sense at all!
Or, if there is some sense
It’s exceedingly small.