Hand on the Dial

Swelter under numbers you claim

are beyond frame of reference.

Do they only extend to comfort,

living memory, myth of Glory?

Too many jostle for air

too few allow space

to breathe together.

All those Digits, on buses,

on hoardings, in mouths

gaping at mutual effrontery;

turned sideways, backwards,

upside down.

Who among us knows the true value

of Zero,

what we have achieved?