our earth is a globe
whose surface we probe
no map can replace her
but just try to trace her

i'd like to share a mystery
of world mapping and its history
it really begins with mercator
the first great map creator

no one gave their resistance
to errors of any distance
clearly focused in their attitudes
along the straight lines of its latitudes

then later came peter's
who questioned those meters
with his areas right on
still made the continents too long

the map of buckminster
was like a poor spinster
though precise and quite neat
just how do you make ends meet

colour nat geo yellow
who lately chose a new fellow
the result; their robinson projection
still contains polar deception

other maps of the atlantic
depict greenland as gigantic
antartica too, looks bizarre
if they dare plot south, that far

mcarthur's what's up south rendition
flips the world to opposite position
but earth being physical, spinning as a top
would wobble too much and antartica would stop

being atop; and drift ever lower
first going faster then getting slower
reaching the south pole where we now have got 'em
with antartica's huge mass supporting the bottom

the waterman projection combines
advanced polyhedral designs
with visions imagined from space
an equality of position and place

computerized colour with pertinent data
an important component, its obvious equator
continental shaping looking just great
approximate distancing is first rate

from all world projections ever created
when has our earth, been best duplicated
which is the fairest amongst them all
that is the one, to place on your wall