You have been born
into a palace.
Carved into
the walls of the palace
is an equation
that is itself a palace
all its own, a palace
made of directions
to enter a farther palace
beyond all mathematics
where you can live forever
instead of staying
and eventually dying
here in this first palace
where you are only
allowed to be either
spectator of, or specter for,
the immortals inside the
palace of math, the ones
who have figured it all out
or were born into it;
that’s all they will ever know
of you, your struggle
with numbers,
your mad scratching
at the walls trying to
figure out how to have
what they have.
You are to them
either specter of the disastrous
life outside, or spectator for
the luxury of being inside,
and while you do the math
to figure out how palaces
may be entered by command or
fortune or breach, they keep
watch. There’s math
to be done on their side too:
the simple arithmetic
of how to raise the walls,
no matter how close
you or anyone may get
to solving for
the key, for zero;
for the red white and blue
on the other side of the x.
Dark Matter 
July 23rd, 2022 at 9:22 am
Le drapeau de la France est tricolore (bleu, rouge, et blanc), tout comme le Royaume-Uni et d’autres pays. Cependant, je crois que vous le saviez déjà. 😉
Traduction:
The flag of France is three colored, (Blue, red, and white) as is the UK and other countries as well. However, I believe you already knew that. 😉
July 23rd, 2022 at 9:28 am
Of course, but the phrase “the red white and blue” to US readers conjures something on its own. It’s the phrasing, not the flag.
July 23rd, 2022 at 9:43 am
You are absolutely correct. Alas, I have a bit of a facetious streak that takes over at times. I simply couldn’t resist. I’ve no doubt that you could go into town and find a number of citizens that don’t realize that they are not the only country to fly those colors. My inner mischievousness has escaped again…
July 23rd, 2022 at 11:48 am
No worries. I saw a person arguing about the flag of Liberia the other day…which bbn of course looks very much like the US flag
July 23rd, 2022 at 11:49 am
No worries. I assumed as much.