Days that end with 4 or 9

...plus saints, trees, plants and planets

Lists can organize saints, plants, remedies, philosophers, philosophies, treasures, pleasures, stars, moons, planets, birds, trees. Even though I wasn’t there at the time, I assume that before humans had words like “galaxy,” they/we looked up at night and described the sky by listing what they saw.

Endless stars. Galaxies. Constellations. Planets. Light and dark. Sun and moon. Dawn. The earliest lists may be almost as old as the earliest humans.

Lists can contain just about anything. Like things we wish we had said. Things we wish we hadn’t said. Things we can’t remember. Things we can’t forget. Things we haven’t done. Things we wish we hadn’t done. Things we hope to do. Things we will do. Things we want to learn. Taste. Try. See. Be.

The earliest writing occurred about 3300 years BCE. Before the Common Era, though I’m not sure why it’s called Common. Very few things seem common to me.

But back to lists: Lists of elegant ways to say “No.” Lists that contain trading cards. Lists that contain cardamon. Lists that contain Mickey Mouse. Lists of questions you want to resolve. Lists of questions you don’t want to resolve. Lists of people in trench coats trying to act normal. Lists of deep truths in physics. Lists of not-deep truths in physics. Lists of secrets. Secret lists of secrets. Lists of herbs. List of poems by Mary Oliver. Lists of things you learn from monks. Like it took one monk ten years to learn to want less. Also during that time, he only shaved his head on days that ended with a 4 or a 9.