The Square Root of Three

David Feinberg

• I fear that I will always be
• A lonely number like root three
• A three is all that’s good and right,
• Why must my three keep out of sight
• Beneath a vicious square root sign,
• I wish instead I were a nine
• For nine could thwart this evil trick,
• With just some quick arithmetic
• I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
• Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
• When hark! What is this I see,
• Another square root of a three
• Has quietly come waltzing by,
• Together now we multiply
• To form a number we prefer,
• Rejoicing as an integer
• We break free from our mortal bonds
• And with a wave of magic wands
• Our square root signs become unglued
• And love for me has been renewed.