Numbers measure my days,
the clock ticks, calendars get spent
the steps I count to the market.
They help me make sense of life,
each digit a rung on the ladder
toward meaning.
Yet infinity waits,
a horizon I cannot touch,
a silence beyond calculation.
So I compare, because comparison is comfort:
my 8 against the neighbor’s 6,
a small victory, a proof that I exist in relation,
not alone in the vast equation.
I hold my finite sums
like fragile beads on a string,
knowing infinity will always slip
through my limited intelligence
Creative Experiments and More 
Reena, I wonder how finite and infinite can co-exist in the same space. It’s the great paradox. I enjoyed your take on them.
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Finite is a subset of the infinite, a space within 😀. Thank you, Lisa!
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You’re welcome 🙂
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Oh this is very relatable Reena. We always have comparisons at the back of our minds
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Thank you, Sadje!
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You’re most welcome
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‘So I compare, because comparison is comfort:
my 8 against the neighbor’s 6,
a small victory, a proof that I exist in relation,
not alone in the vast equation.’
What adbhut thoughts come to your mind?
Excellent poem.
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Schools now give grades, instead of ranks. In my childhood, it was blasphemy to slip below the first rank in class. Somehow, I kept it up for 10 years with 1-2 exceptions.
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Reena there’s so much I like about this piece! The search for meaning; the way you chose the numeral 8, which flipped on its side is infinity; the number metaphor you’ve cleverly woven throughout with word choice; the silence!
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Thank you, Catherin! Numbers make me smile or cry depending on where and how they are placed.
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Thought-provoking. I love your description of infinity….
“a horizon I cannot touch,
a silence beyond calculation.”
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Thank you, Mish!
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We start out as zero and once inverted we have infinity… life is all the steps inbetween.
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I like the term “inverted.” If you believe in reincarnation, we are born with more than zero. Genetics adds to the burden we carry since birth.
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