Nothing is 1
Everything is 2 or 3 or 5 or 9
Or sometimes π or the square root of 2
Or sometimes my love is like a red red rose

Disapproval is possible without hatred
Correction is possible without loathing
Acceptance is sometimes possible
Even without correction

Here’s the painting I would paint if I were a painter
Against a background in shades and shades of white
Fortified by a tiny tincture of crimson
5 shimmering bars in silvergray
None fully at the vertical
All well away from the horizontal
In varying degrees of obliquity