An ode to me

For what! For whom!

Four whats. Four whoms

In a line, next to the other

Looking like trains

On parallel tracks with one going

"What! What! What! What!"

And the other

"Whom? Whom? Whom? Whom?"

Their eyes meeting each other's

From time to time

Going on like this forever

"Why four?" you ask 

"Why not nine!" you challenge

Mmmm hmmmm hmmmm

"Why not nine!" I ponder

Nine whats and nine whoms 

When placed in a line

Seem cumbersome

"What! What! What! What! What! What! What! What! What!"

You exclaim in confusion

But did you not run out of your breath

By the sixth what?

Nine is five too many compared to four

But let me confess 

I like nine better than four

Nine has a symmetricity about it

That four misses

Not just in English, in maths too.

And yet, four and nine have a lot in common

"Oh be quiet!" you cry.

"How can they have anything in common

When one is odd and the other is even?"

Tsk tsk tsk! Haven't you heard

Silence is golden?

Besides you should realize

Odd follows an even

And Even follows an odd

So why should they not have

Many things in common

For one, four likes to live next door to the pleasant five

And nine has its den near the powerful ten.

The Romans knew that all along

Their four looked like a five preceded by an I

Their nine, a ten with an I ahead

Them Roman had an eye for an I

Besides did you not know

That four is two times two

And nine three times three

Did I hear you say "perfect"?

Not just perfect but "perfect squares"

The story does not end here however

In fact, it only begins here.

Four and nine met each other

On the sides of a rectangle

It did not take long for them to realize 

That they were perfect for each other

A few weeks later, they found themselves

Walking down the aisle

Four days and nine months later

A perfect square of a child was introduced

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the child of Four and Nine, Forty Nine"