Letters Versus Numbers Poem by Richard Randolph

I prefer letters to numbers.
Numbers are too much like Inspector Javert-
one way, right or wrong, black or white.
Letters, on the other hand,
are like Jean Valjean,
flexible--but a little shifty, too.
Sometimes a 'G' is hard, for example,
like a growling dog, and that's great.
At other times it's gentle, genial, and generous,
and, at still other times, silence reigns.
It's enough to make one gnash one's teeth.
But it is the price we have to pay
once we realize the world just doesn't add up.