Before There Were Numbers

BEFORE THERE WERE NUMBERS

Someone, sometime, 
saw things,
and called them things,
just things,
flowers were flowers,
birds were birds,
people were people,
the sun rose
and set, the moon too, 
the day was the day,
a cold day was cold,
a hot day hot,
and no one said things like
age is just a number
and no one looked their age,
or didn't,
and no one ever told anyone else 
to act their age.
No one was ever late
for an appointment, 
to the consternation of some
and the relief of others,
the trains always ran on time,
or not,
if there were trains, that is,
and as for a job, well that was something
you did because you wanted to, 
or maybe had to,
stuff was produced, a service rendered, 
it was all like art
for art's sake,
not a measure of value, 
because no one asked themselves "how much?"
or thought about having more 
or less
than anyone else,
there was no rich
or poor,
no jealousy
or shame,
and we saw in each other
the endless
the infinite
the present
until the counting began.