This isn’t a numbers game.
And I could give you 1,000
Reasons why and will
Therefore give you 0.
It isn’t a numbers game
But numbers tell the story.
(In this extraordinary case,
A whole lot better than words.)
Seven and Earth –
They go so well together,
Like peanut butter and jelly,
Or, for the insecure sake of
Being original (and poetic),
Like the white paper that is sail
And the black ink that is sea.
Whenever Earth goes for a spin
Seven is not too far behind (or ahead):
It soars in seven heavens,
Astounds in seven wonders,
Sails on seven seas –
The clowns in its seven-ring circus
Don’t ride uni- bi- or even tricycles –
They ride sept-cycles.
But cycles of seven can get very cyclopedic:
Long, boring, technical, and extremely exhaustive
(Not to mention about as attractive and agreeable as a seven-year itch.)
Monotonous seven-day weeks:
Six days we work; and on the seventh day we rest.
Week after week after week
(Until even the strong get week).
Redundant, redundant, redundant
Playing of the same seven tone-deaf notes:
Do re mi fa sol la ti
(Oh, and a redundant “do” to come full scale)
Se7en – how insipid:
Even its vowels are symmetrical!
But then the big, weathered grandfather clock
Strikes eight and everything changes. Time stands
Still and seven truly meets earth.
And it was on the
Eighth day…
For seven days they prepared,
Inaugurated, consecrated –
Technicalities, blueprints, rules
That may be seen as unromantic to
The untrained eye of a novice
(As a symphony in C Major might sound
Like a jackhammer beneath a hardhat to
The steel ear of a robot) –
But on the eighth day even the most banal
Individual cannot help but feel passionate, alive:
For today G-d
Appears to you
No longer do we hear the seven limits of the notes
But listen to the infinite possibilities of the music.
Love & Eight – forces in their own right –
Together unstoppable.
No, Life isn’t a game played by the numbers
Nor is Life even lived (or calculated) by the numbers –
Life is just simply something we love to eight.
Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at jakeyology.blogspot.com
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.