Sitting there,
minding my own Ps and Qs...
a young lass on the table at my right
was passed by another pushing a pram
and looking like she'd not slept the whole night.
'Did you hear about our Mary, then?
She had a little girl and named her Sue;
a pretty little thing she is, like Mary,
just a pity...
Mary made her clothes all blue.'
The one with the pram kept pushing,
another came and sat.
The first one told a story to the next...
'Mary had a blue baby,
Meg says she will sue.
I guess the whole Green family is vexed!'
This practise,
known as chinese whispers
is how the worst of gossip is begun
starts off as truth, then needlessly,
a little is added,
a few fictions spun.
