Magnolia Heptapeta with 9 petals.

Thursday, April 11, 2002

Dear Marissa:

All numbers are considered divine
especially the mystical number nine.

Midway between the numbers 6 and 12,
when multiplied, 9 reproduces itself.

9 is the highest single digit number.
On its side, 9 is like us in slumber.

In folklore, a cat is said to have 9 lives.
How many of them were going to St. Ives?

9 is a strong gale on the Beaufort scale.
9 hours for a tornado to sweep its trail.

9 baseball players in a game of 9 innings.
9 planets in our solar system are spinning.

A nonagon has 9 equal angles and sides.
May the 9 muses be your inspiring guides.

9 headed monsters are like 9 bodily gates.
Hercules slayed Hydra to control his fate.

Nones is the 9th hour of canonical prayers.
The magic square of Saturn has 9 squares.

To be on "Cloud 9" is to have a mental high.
Dante's 9th heaven is above the highest sky.

Beethoven's 9th Symphony sets the soul aglow
like the 9 Sistine panels of Michelangelo.

9 electrons spinning in an atom of Fluorine.
9 prophecy books were known to be Sibylline.

9 months for homemade apple cider to age.
The 9th Tarot card shows a hermit sage.

9 is the square of the odd number three.
9 lobes on leaves of a white oak tree.

Bean sprouts & embryos look somewhat like 9—
the secret starting seeds of nature's design.

9 Beatitudes of Christ for us to revere.
9 signifies transition to a higher sphere.

Plotinus' Enneads are six books of nine
chapters showing that the soul does shine.

The tripling of trinity is number nine—
the sum of our life in space, time, & mind.

Happy 9th Birthday my niece, Marissa dear—
May you find nine to be your lucky year!

With Love,
Uncle Peter