Computer Poetry
Computer
Poetry
fingers cramped and vision bleary,
system manuals piled high
and wasted paper on the floor,
longing for the warmth of bedsheets
still I sat there, doing spreadsheets:
having reached the bottom line,
I took a floppy from the drawer.
typing with a steady hand,
I then invoked the SAVE command
but got instead a reprimand:
it read "Abort, Retry, Ignore."
Was this some occult illusion?
Some maniacal intrusion?
These were choices Solomon himself
had never faced before
carefully, I weighed my options.
These three seemed to be the top ones.
Clearly, I must now adopt one:
choose Abort, Retry, Ignore.
With my fingers pale and trembling,
slowly toward the keyboard bending,
longing for a happy ending,
hoping all would be restored,
praying for some guarantee
finally I pressed a key.
but on the screen what did I see?
Again: "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
I tried to catch the chips off-guard
I pressed again, but twice as hard.
luck was just not in the cards.
I saw what I had seen before.
Now I typed in desperation
trying random combinations
still there came the incantation:
choose: Abort, Retry, Ignore?
There I sat, distraught, exhausted,
by my own machine accosted
getting up I turned away
and paced across the office floor.
and then I saw an awful sight:
a bold and blinding flash of light
a lightning bolt had cut the night
and shook me to my very core.
I saw the screen collapse and die
"Oh no - my database," I cried.
I thought I heard a voice reply,
"You'll see your data Nevermore."
To this day I do not know
the place to which lost data goes.
I bet it goes to heaven
where the angels have it stored.
But, as for productivity, well
I fear that it goes straight to hell.
and that,s the tale I tell .
Your choice: Abort, Retry, Ignore?
THE END