Too sleepy to mean much

This is what comes of attempting poetry borne of sleep deprivation and after two of the most exhausting weeks ever (I blame teaching writing). This one should stay on the scratch pad as one of Annie Lamott's famed 'shitty first drafts.' But I'm on a three-day roll and it's too soon to quit, so I will click 'publish' anyway. Read at your own peril.

The prompt for today is “three in a row.” Write about how “three in a row” means you’ve won something, like a game of tic tac toe or a jackpot from a slot machine. Or write about the superstition about how bad things come in threes: deaths, injuries, failing household appliances. Wonder how a string of three represents both good and bad luck. Think about any sets of three you have in your life: cats, kids, husbands, anything! (For the record, I have six cats, three kids and one husband. How about you?) Explore what people mean when they say, “Third time’s a charm!” Consider a third place win, a trio, the trinity.

Tres

It’s the third day
of the fourth month (error!),
and I’m compelled to think
of threes.
The fallible ‘they’ say
celebrity deaths come in threes.
The egg is three but one,
like God.
Our cat household
just increased by three,
and my students still think
all essays must have just
three body paragraphs (error!).
The waltz beats three
(though the heart beats two);
a count of three begins the race
(ready, set, go)
(eins, zwei, drei).
When the evening and the morning
were the third day,
God made land and grass and trees;
and on the third day, He rose again.
The stoplight in red, yellow, green
says stop slow go.
A talisman, our prayers in threes:
lordhavemercyuponus,
christhavemercyuponus,
lordhavemercyuponus or
helpmehelpmehelpme or
damndamndamn or
nonono or
ohpleaseohpleaseohplease.
And my sleepstarved brain asks
so what, so what, so what?
And the universe delivers
Julian’s answer:
All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of thing shall be well.
Amen.