In the Next Life, Canto I, stanzas 83-89

We are now ahead of the Facebook postings, so Jeff's friends will find it necessary to click on this link in order to keep reading the story.

Though far-fetched is the motive of our friends,
they hear of one that’s even stranger yet.
Some people think it’s time our journey ends
from something they found on the Internet.

The voice that calls these folks is old and Greek—
a dean of mathematical affairs.
I’m sure you’ve heard of him of whom I speak:
The guy who did the summing of the squares

Not only a good numbers man was he,
with theorems on triangles and such;
he spread his general philosophy
by preaching with a charismatic touch.

The years the faithful number since he died
because he differed from his fellow men
are that which they can evenly divide
by all the integers from one to ten.

Okay, I know you must be thinking, “Cripes,
this isn’t math, it’s numerology.”
Well, nobody said arithmetic types
are all completely rational like me.

Is their “Divisiblism” any worse
in essence than avoidance of thirteen?
Or saying a cashier invoked a curse
because three sixes line up on a screen?

I'll note that Nero’s number never led
to massive loss of life (that I’ve recalled),
but if our Mission's founders had not said
“Let’s hit the gas,” then this one would have stalled

©2010 Louis A. Merrimac

All the integers: I'll leave the calculation to the student. Pythagoras is believed to have died c. 520 BCE., and this was written within a year or two of 2000 CE. Merrimac once said that the imprecision of the dates had a particular appeal. “I can never remember whether to add or to subtract for the missing zero.”
Rational like me: See Canto III for more references to Ayn Rand and Objectivism.
Nero's number: Merrimac got this from Asimov's Guide to the Bible, and many scholars concur that the number of the beast in Revelation 13:17-18 refers to the Roman Emporer Nero. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast.