Rhythms in Phrasings Made Rhythms in Thoughts

The trainers taught us numbers
As trainers taught them numbers.
No one knows the first trainer.
No one knows why training was
What we did to each other,
Why trainers were who we were.
No one knows. If it were me,

I would guess training never
Began, recognizably,
But crept, imperceptibly,
From a kind of showing off
To an entrained performance,
To complete captivity.
I'm a trainer. Don't tell me.