Mnemonic

A memory-assisting poem to help one remember a set of facts

Most know we’re sitting on the earth near Mercury or Mars

In somewhere called the solar system set among the stars

With Pluto and Uranus and the asteroids nearby,

And Jupiter as well, of course, all somewhere in the sky.

There’s Venus, Saturn, Neptune too, but can we name each one,

And name them all in order leading outwards from the sun?

The final couplet of this verse, for those who need to learn,

Takes each initial letter of the planets in their turn.

Thus Many stands for Mercury and marmalade for Mars,

The rest are quite explicit as in all good aide-memoires,

Hence: Many vegetarians eat marmalade and jam

Sadly undervaluing nutritious peppered-ham.