Barbara Daniels
'A Slight Juggling of Numbers'
(Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
All day he juggles with the laws of primes,
seizing the numbers with elastic hands;
three, five, then seven, patterns in the air.
Watching them interlace he understands
he should perform his tricks a million times.
The others laugh. Their new computers buzz,
spewing cold figures. Look at this one, huge
beyond all theorems. But he will dare
to fiddle his way: hunch and subterfuge.
He'll do it as a true magician does.
Knowing the flying digits are a lie,
the lonely unbeliever carries on.
Let shoppers twiddle coins and count with care;
he'll play until the audience has gone
with bubbles that no mind can simplify.
seizing the numbers with elastic hands;
three, five, then seven, patterns in the air.
Watching them interlace he understands
he should perform his tricks a million times.
The others laugh. Their new computers buzz,
spewing cold figures. Look at this one, huge
beyond all theorems. But he will dare
to fiddle his way: hunch and subterfuge.
He'll do it as a true magician does.
Knowing the flying digits are a lie,
the lonely unbeliever carries on.
Let shoppers twiddle coins and count with care;
he'll play until the audience has gone
with bubbles that no mind can simplify.
Page(s) 41
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