Why did Matilda’s grandfather come to live with them

her eyes water as she let her go

her mothers hand goes limp

face white and pale

lips blue and stale

she is gone

sadness fills her body

she collapses to her knees

as her mothers disease leaves the girl alone

even though there may be variations in human emotions over time, the poem “ a contribution to statistics” by wislawa symborska suggests that the only unchangeable characteristic is mortality.

the author poses a distinction between the approximate and non-approximate numbers which correspond to our need for certainty in life and the difficulty of achieving it. our efforts to measure the exact often fail because the world is not always clearly structured .the poem seems to imply   that the only thing that is certain and has an exact number is death.