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C O N C I N N I T Y
I N M O T I O N
( T h e S t o r y o f L e a p Y e a r
D a y )
by Vischmilla Gillespie
copyright
2008 © All Rights Reserved
There once was a gal named Raenell,
She had a strange
story to tell....
Seems the day of her
birth
Was a day whose sum
worth
Held four
quarter-day turns of the earth:
Our path is a journey around the Sun
And when we've
returned to where we'd begun,
Four seasons have
passed
In a year that hast
Three hundred
sixty-five and one-quarter days cast.
Each journey
provides that extra quarter-day.
But you know, folks
just won't live that way.
They package their
lives from sunrise to sunset
And prefer things in
wholeness - you can bet.
(Living fractional
days would make anyone fret....)
We first tried
counting from moon to moon
But the seasons, it
seemed, kept coming too soon.
Holidays appeared at
the oddest times.
The harvest for
peaches came up with limes.
The church couldn't
tell when to ring the chimes.
The time-counters
said, "We must keep track!"
"Of when each of
the seasons will be coming back!"
"The church wants
to know!
The farmers need
hoe!
The merchants vie
for their profits to grow!"
So Emperor Julius
Caesar decreed
(and his learned
astronomer heartily agreed)
If they'd just bide
four years of time
Those fractions
gathered would then be prime
To group summarily
into one day sublime.
Hence each time four
years of these quarter-days accrued
We'd add them
together, symbolically glued
Then we'd place this
whole day
In a reasonable way
At the end of the
year...though wonder you may:
How this date is now
found at February's bend?
Well that, at the
time, was Caesar's year-end.
Since then others
have fine-tuned with enlightened precision
This conciliation of
Time with harmonic decision.
Yet the Day there
remains....(with one minor revision:)
Now I'm reluctant to
explore this final detail....
I suppose if I
don't, though, my purpose may fail.
So stand near me
close as I sketch you a digit
- I'll caution you,
friend, stay keen, do not fidget -
It takes a frank
look (math can be so rigid!)
The quarter-day
journey to which I've referred
Has a quotient of
minutes that we've somewhat blurred.
For it's ever so
slightly less than I've quoted
A mere fraction of a
fraction - dormant, foot-noted.
(Yon mischief
lies in what's sugar-coated....)
One day for four
years was a sensible solution
Yet the rounding off
of Time imparts residual pollution
So to achieve a
balance in the most delicate of style
We must skip the
plan - just once in a while:
(Bear with me here,
now, while I consult the file....)
Ah yes, here it is,
the magic equation -
A bold approach, a
simple evasion:
At century's end, if
the year is divisible
By four-hundred,
only then is it admissible
(For purposes here,
all the others are derisible.)
The remarkable years
that do merit this day
(Again, the sum of
fractions earned along our way)
Are entitled,
"Leap Year",
To help the citizens
keep dear
Concepts of time
held profoundly deep here.
The accumulated
fractions compose a "Leap Day".
(There are "Leap
Seconds" too, but that's all I'll say!)
May this illustrate
for you mankind's devotion
To monitor the orbit
as concinnity in motion,
A mobile swirl of
land and blue ocean.
Lo, in terms of
modern-day application
The people vary in
extrapolation:
Some behave no
differently on the Added Date.
Others toil for
Charity, lest it be Fate.
The taxman has to
stay up Late.
Observance takes its
cues from one's own philosophy.
Restaurants promote
"Free Birthday Dinner, with I.D."
(Concurrent though
unrelated,
A presidential race
is slated
And Olympians,
of finest form, from one-to-ten are rated.)
Shops will advertise
the contrivance of a sale.
Some paychecks
blossom while others pale.
The rent check's no
higher,
But the hearth needs
more fire.
We've another chance
before coupons expire.
For a while there
was a region, I think near Wales,
That permitted
females to propose to males
And further, I hear,
a fellow could be fined
If the lady's
advances were spurned or declined.
(No wonder gents
went scarce those Days - in hiding from the
bind!)
In a small town of
Texas enthusiasts convene
With parades, and
hot balloons rising serene
Clubs emerge, and
festivals, worldwide when Leap Day
calls,
Banquets, barbecues,
Galas and Balls,
Sleepovers, picnics,
and seminars in Halls.
Noted are many who
can lay claim
To this as a birth
date, and later, to fame
Like inventors and
scientists....accomplished, all
Artists, athletes,
composers who enthrall
An astronaut, a
Pope, the founder of U-Haul.
Fictional souls are
not excluded -
Superman's
birth is thus alluded.
Indentured on a
pirate ship 'til the age of twenty-one,
A hapless chap's
dismayed to learn - his release will ne'er
be done!
(For he's seen but
five scant birth dates in his life's
two-decade run.?.)
These bonus days do
not make life extended
(A mystical illusion
- that aging be suspended!)
Still many feel
blessed
For an opportunity
to rest
Or for the reprieve
when studying for a test.
Regardless of how we
pledge Leap Year Day,
It gently ushers us
through the fray
Of recalibration
By intercalation
(A tried-and-true
method endorsed by each nation).
And what of the
lady I mentioned afore?
Whose birthday only
comes once in four?
Her schoolteacher
deemed her a pathetic case
(Evidencing narrow
ken of how Earth keeps its pace!)
Her classmates were
left unaware of the grace.
She felt lesser a
person, left out, left behind.
(Yea, such are the
travails of a child's mind!)
Content is she now
with this rarest of date.
She's even grown to
consider it great!
(Though "Hawkins"
and ground hogs can summon
debate...!)
She beckons you to
leap upon her crusade
To ensure that all
new calendars are made
With an honorable
nod to this day so fine.
(So far it passes
with nary a line!)
And I'd do the same,
if the day were mine.
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