I count

each step, each breath, 
each pull, or lift, or hold;

I count
in sets of two
or four, of five or eight or ten.

Quantifying movement,
we measure 
the time contained in the distance
or the distance contained in the time.

Quantifying expression,
we count letters, syllables, words, 
each sound, each metronomic beat –
rhythm bound
by number patterning. 

We record
the flash periodicity of fireflies,
ocean tides as they surge and ebb,
the pulse from spinning neutron stars. 
Our life’s measure
is the beating of our hearts …

a finite sequence of unknown length.