Felicitous numbers always
visit my mind
And that’s what I saw in
this lay
Where Wordsworth discussed
with a quick little girl
“How many siblings, can
you say?”
Felicitous seven she insisted
with flare
But he wouldn’t accept what
she said
She played in the graveyard
with quiet delight
Her brother and sister were
dead
Felicitous numbers, always
know what they are
Even when Fortune doesn’t
play fair
And Chance comes to haunt
you with twos and fours
Use a divisible with care
The little maid joined the
absent and present.
To sustain an acceptable
set
As if knowing an atevi counter’s
secret
A problem for Wordsworth,
you bet!
How would this Romantic poet
have coped?
With the core of atevi etiquette
Lacking that sense of arrangement
To create an acceptable
set
Because atevi add so fast
in their minds.
It’d be hard for the poet
to swallow
Such a race of mathematical
talents
Few humans could ever follow
Though a genius in language
composition
Would he know the right
Ragi noun?
To sit among atevi nobles
for tea
Counting wrong once and
he’d go down
With no way to escape strict
kabiu rules
And traditions that encumber
Closely watched by the Bu-javid
dignitaries
Quick to suspect human numbers
It would have been smart
to learn from that child
Who included her dead siblings’
ghosts
When facing an alien way
of thinking
And dealing with his atevi
hosts
Polite are the numbers that
don’t add even
It’d be up to the poet to
rate
Who are simply added and
who are really there
Never take a statement on
fate
When the grownups are counting
the invisible ones
And to every atevi child
Proof of their imaginary
companions
Sure to make the poet riled
Felicitous numbers, most
important of all
Unlucky settings must be
improved
The lesson for Wordsworth
to always remember:
A divisible must be removed
Felicitous numbers are what
matter the most
Know when to add and when
to subtract
Calculate fast and conjure
up a ghost
Don’t leave a divisible
intact
--Ansikalden |