To live and die by numbers,

to be at the mercy of numerical opinion

and the percentage point,

to infer that all is lost upon the raising brow

of the integer and downcast digit,

is surely only adding up

to the fact that we have lost control

of humanity, our human intelligence eroded

by quantity rather than time;

to live and die by the second, to pack things in

to the day rather than be ruled by one to ten,

to live in the moment for as long as possible, stretching it out

as if were a may fly

living into October, that is when numbers fail

and nature is the crowned victor.

Ian D. Hall 2016