Ezra, five, is a numbers guy.
If you tell him your age, he calculates your birth year.
Easily, gladly, with enthusiasm.
But, he also likes to know the origin of things.
On the way to school, he poses questions.
Asks how numbers began.
His father, economist and statistician, thought for a few minutes.
Then suggested that ancient people must have counted fingers, toes.
Right there, his dad asserted, twenty.
Ezra persisted, how about bigger numbers?
Well, what else could be counted? his father questioned.
Turning it into a game.
Ezra then enumerated.
Eyes, ears, nostrils.
Legs, arms.
Teeth, hairs, eyelashes.
Adding body parts till arriving at school.
Where he proudly carried in his box.
What kind of box?
A leprechaun catcher.
For it’s almost St. Patty’s Day.
The boy who loves numbers and counts,
also traps elfish fairies
to find treasure, compute amounts.
Lynn Benjamin
March 19, 2024
