We're number one at nine

It's been a month of numbers
It all comes down to this
And unlike some bomb's countdown
There's no shrapnel to dehisce
It shows you never really know
When ideas first begin
Just where it's going to lead you
Or how it's going to end.

In pairs, by nine

The first number on the telephone
With any letters to it
Twice as great as number one
Essential for a duet
Called the first true number
By old Pythagoreans
And just so represents the month
That all of us have been in

Countdown continues at nine

Eight hours to work
Eight hours to sleep
Eight hours to do as we please
Life is so much simpler
When broken into threes

Countdown starts at nine

So many folks are bad at math
Our cultural innumeracy
And it isn't all as hard as that
Come work the numbers out with me.