Description
Suppose Edgar Allan Poe Used a Computer
Once upon a midnight dreary, 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
and waited for the disk to store,
Only this and nothing more.
Deep into the monitor peering, long I sat there
wond'ring, fearing,
Doubting, while the disk kept churning, turning
yet to churn some more.
"Save!" I said, "You cursed mother! Save my data
from before!"
One thing did the phosphors answer, only this and
nothing more,
Just, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
Was this some occult illusion? Some maniacal
intrusion?
These were choices undesired, ones I'd never
faced before.
Carefully, I weighed the choices as the disk made
monstrous noises.
The cursor flashed, insistent, waiting, baiting
me to type some more.
Clearly I must press a key, choosing one and
nothing more,
From " 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 Timidly I pressed a
key.
But on the screen there still persisted, words
appearing as before.
Ghastly grim they blinked and taunted, haunted,
as my patience wore,
Saying."Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
I tried to catch the chips off-guard - I pressed
again, but twice as hard.
I pleaded with the cursed machine: I begged and
cried and then I swore.
Then I tried in desperation, sev'ral random
combinations,
Still there came the incantation, just as
senseless as before.
Cursor blinking, mocking, winking, flashing
nonsense as before.
Reading, "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 a dreadful sight: a lightning bolt
cut through the night.
A gasp of horror overtook me, shook me to my very
core.
The lightning zapped my previous data, lost and
gone forevermore.
Not even, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
To this day I do not know The place to which lost
data goes.
What demonic nether world is wrought where data
will be stored,
Beyond the reach of mortal souls, beyond the
ether, in black holes?
But sure as there's C, Pascal, Lotus, Ashton-Tate
and more,
You will one day be left to wander, lost on some
Plutonian shore,
Pleading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
Author Unknown
Happy Halloween
Comments (8)
Unicornst
Wonderful modeling and even better poem. Brought a smile to my face while in the back of my head was the thought "I know the feeling!"
TANZA
Love this. imaginative and outstanding work. Excellent!!
Petra-S
super perfect work and image! super colors, lighting and details!
LunarSight
The poem is godly! =) I think we've all had that happen to us. It's amazing how that sort of thing will transform a computer geek into an enraged primate smashing his fists on the keyboard in a matter of seconds.
Sylvaine
"Nevermore" quoth The Raven...one of my favorite poem...but you dare and love your interpretation...no fatal error and so cute reading cat.
peejay
Don't know if I'm allowed to, but just voted for this 3 times. MAGNIFICENT poem and render! So well done, and oh boy have we all been there!
Doodles
Great poem. Poe himself must be smiling. The kitty on the book is a nice touch.
Mousson
Fantastic work!