34

Stand with me now you who are dispirited.
Stand with me now and look at what's on the wall,
Durer's print he names "Melancholia",
Up in the corner, the right upper corner,
The `Magic Box' with the 16 numbers
Mathematicians, students of Pythagoras,
Add the numbers in any column,
Add them together. What do you get?
34 up, down,and diagonally.
Why is that so? Ponder with me.
I look at each number sensing some sense here.
I `flect then reflect in my mood so pensive
And find art clues end to end here -

Come, now come, explore with me
And unsaddle the turtle of melancholy.

THE NUMBERS:

16 16 l6...Sisteen Chapel...Look Up!...on the Ceiling...God reaches out
to touch Adam (everyman) and it begins.

3 3 3...Pythagoras's perfect number (and oh how `grace' full)...
We bare all; "So first she tasted the porridge of the Great, Huge Bear,
and that was too hot. Then she tasted the porridge of the Middle Bear,
and that was too cold. And then she went to the porridge of the Little,
Small, Wee Bear, and tasted that; and that...was just right! [pure gold]

2 2 2... Man and Woman - It's the same old story, boy meets girl, Romeo and
Juliet, Minneapolis, St. Paul."

13 13 13... Bad luck for dinner! Valhalla, and Loki intrudes (that rascal
troublemaker) now 13 guests at the banquet and Balder, god of light, is slain.

5 5 5... [with the 5th playing its first 4 notes] I use my 5 senses:
sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch to witness the wits; common wit,
imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory.

10 10... end to end with 1st the Sun:
SUN, the king, the throne.
I am, I shine, I beam.

MOON, women, emotions.
I feel, I change, I glow.

MERCURY, the winge'd messenger.
Talk-talk, go-go, talk-talk.

VENUS, the object of desire.
To love. Beauty and refinement.

MARS, power, anger.
Physical force. To do.

JUPITER, fun & lucky.
Expanding the good. Unlimited.

SATURN, the stern old judge.
Taskmaster, father, witholding.

URANUS, shocking us all
To the future, to serve us all!

NEPTUNE, elusive, watery.
Dissolves to the ultimate ...

PLUTO, the wall, pitch black.
The end beyond which there is nothing, (Urania)

11 11... 11th hour - at the end of the tunnel/where it is the darkest before...

8 8... 8th Symphony. Like his life, cut short, unfinished, Bm. "The greatest
"fragment" in music was discovered by a determined conductor on the
prowl for lost manuscripts. Upon his querying an aged, quavering
musician, the oldster pointed to a hatch of yellowing manuscripts and
said, "Oh, I still have a lot of things by Schubert - help yourself."
and the music was restored!

9 9... 9... The nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Muse-(eh)s
CALLIOPE, the epic Muse with a stylus and a scroll/ CLIO, Muse of history
with an open chest of books/ERATO, Muse of love poetry with her lyre/
EUTERPE, Muse of lyric poetry with her flute/MELPOMENE, Muse of tragedy,
with her mask of tragedy/ POLYHYMNIA, Muse of sacred poetry, her symbol
a pensive mood/ TERPSICHORE, Muse of choral song and DANCE with a lyre
and a plectrurn/ THALIA, Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, with her
mask of comedy & URANIA, Muse of astronomy with her staff pointed to a
globe.

6 6 ... 6 CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR. And we ask what is real: the play
the characters, Pirandello himself - "The Curtain can fall right there!"

7 7... 7 Wonders of the World: Classic classics, bricks and mortals: The
Pyramids of Egypt/ The Gardens of Semiramis at Babylon/ The Statue of
Zeus at Olympia by Phidias/ The Temple of Diana at Ephesus/ The Mausoleum
at Halicarnassus/ The Colossus at Rhodes/ The Lighthouse of Pharohs near
Alexandria -

12 12...12 Knights (nights) of the Round Table- night table-diner at night
- Hopper's "Nighthawks" - around `42 [the war years]. The lone man to the left,
falconer, Arthur, King, and we behind his back see Lancelot and Guinevere together and Soda Jerk Merlin mixing a brew.

4 4...4 humors (humor me) - Choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine are 3
plus fruits of his labor, melon-choly.

15 15... Fifteener, incunabulum; in collectors parlance a book of that century, Durer's century - printed prints - "Melancholia 1" but I have it too.

14 14.. 14 lines in a sonnet. Astrophel (& Sidney, in defense of poesy) yell up the stairs (with desire) "Stella! Stella!";
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her Wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burn'd brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay,
Invention, Nature's child, fled stepdame Study's blows,
And other's feet still seem'd but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truand pen, beating myself for spite,
`Fool,' said my Muse to me, `look in thy heart and write.'

11 11... I CELEBRATE myself;
And what I assume you shall assume;
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you [song]
I SING the Body electric;
The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the
charge of the Soul." (Sing)

16=16 boxes 1 + 6 = 7 34 = total of each row 3 + 4 = 7

Shubert quote from Guide to Low Priced Classical Records, H. Russcol. Also, facts from Readers Encyclopedia Back to Contents