Tradition

one, three, five, seven, eight, ten, twelve

the first four odds, the next three evens,

make a pattern that's offbeat and unexpected

four, six, nine, eleven,

two even twins and two odd twins,

follow the same vein but

fall into different capillaries

and two is the odd one out,

the even prime subject to

whims that defy even basic logic

humans construct patterns

no matter how weird or widely used

we are creatures of both

rational and emotional types

we make patterns that are

nonsensical to Vulcans,

Romulans and Klingons

and yet on this backwater

hunk of rock, we mix acres, ares

and arpents like we mix greens,

fruits and vinaigrette into a

sublime salad we call measurement

and it matters not to both the

illuminated and dim alike

look beneath and you will find

no universal pattern that underlies

human numeracy

bases are different because

some prefer it and we seem

to prefer the mish-mash of

metric and imperial,

lunar and gregorian,

decimal and dozenal

the first numbers connect to thirty-one

the second numbers connect to thirty

the last number connects to twenty-eight

it's weird and illogical

but it's tradition after all

welcome to the goldilocks rock,

alien explorers!