Names for That Unspecified Object

Shay, yā, cosa. Or, x y.

Mathematicians made names

Centuries ago for this

Thing, whatzit, unspecified

Object, the general case.

You could plug in specifics

Later. It’s variable.

It’s algebra. It works well.

Isn’t it fascinating

Though, you need a special kind

Of name, a placeholder name

For it, this x, this thingy?

The rough contemporary

Of sunya, sifr, cipher,

Zero—are they not like twins,

These names, one for the empty

Nothing, one for whatever

In the world could hold this place

Within this operation?

Let all the zeroes be x,

And let all x be zero.