from

TAKE A Number

Mary O’Neill

Imagine a world

Without mathematics:

No rulers or scales,

No inches or feet,

No dates or numbers

On house or street,

No prices or weights,

No determining heights,

No hours running through

Days and nights.

No zero, no birthdays,

No way to subtract

All of the guesswork

Surrounding the fact.

No sizes for shoes,

Or suit or hat. . . .

Wouldn’t it be awful

To live like that?