At 77

I like the magic of the number seven,
better yet -- the mythical seventy-seven.
Wonders of the world were seven,
Christian works of mercy order seven

Caravaggio, the Seven Works of Mercy at the church of Pio Monte della Miseriocordia in Naples 

We learned the seven Christian virtues:  Charity,
faith, hope, prudence, justice, temperance, humility.
We heard of seven deadly sins : Arrogance, debauchery
greed, wrath, sloth, envy, gluttony.

Hieronymus Bosch, the Seven Deadly Sins, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Rainbow colours seven under heaven:
Red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo and violet seen.
The days of every week are seven.

Myriad stars illuminate the firmament -- most nights.
We relish looking for the seven Great Bear super lights:
Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda , Dubhe, Merak merrily.
The constellation Ursa Major was already known to Ptolemy.

The Himalayan trek invites to seven pristine lakes,
where seasoned hikers can redeem some city heartaches.
Florida invites to drive its sunny Seven-Mile bridge
to secluded beaches and escape the tricksy seven year itch.

Seven are the hills of Rome: the Palatine, Capitoline,
Aventine, Caelian, Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline.
Ionian Heptanese islands also seven: Kerkyra
Paxi, Lefkada, Ithaki, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Kythira.

Biblical as well its transcendental aura:
Seven are the arms of the Menorah,
seven years took Solomon to build
the hallowed Temple , blessings-filled.

Terpsichorean was the cure for Herod’s woeful ails:
Young Salome performed a dance of seven veils.
Today sopranos reenact the ancient mysteries
to rapturous, spell-binding Straussian melodies.

When Simon Peter asks how many times
we should forgive each other, Jesus rhymes
“seventy times seven” . Thus forgive
to be forgiven, learn to love and live!

Equidem , I honour seven standards: honesty
toward myself and others, generosity, integrity,
proportionality, compassion, equanimity and gratitude.
But living up to them demands some fortitude!

“Homo sum. Humani nil a me alienum puto”. Comedy
and tragedy relate the sinusoidal tale of all humanity.
Record it, heeding seven C’s: chronology, causality,
cui bono, context, compass, change and commonality.

Dum spiro spero . Good to breathe and feel alive,
still blessed with prospects, awe and drive!
I never dreamt of such longevity,
accept the vital bonus gratefully!

Content that even now at seven-seventy
I have not lost my animus scribendi,
osculum semper aestimavi vitae,
nunquam taedium vitae!

Yes, felix sorta mea contentus,
Life is such a marvel, every day a plus!
God knows when I will have to take the leap,
like Frost I think there’re “miles to go before I sleep”

Non sum, qualis eram , smile upon this time and space,
content that tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis .
Change enriched my life, and for my resting place:
gaudeamus, laudamus -- urbi et orbi in optimis illis !