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 bed sheets, still I sat
there doing spreadsheets.
Having reached the bottom line, I took a floppy from
the drawer,
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.
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave
no token.
"Save!" I said, "You cursed machine! 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
impish 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 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, and pressed
again, but twice as hard.
I plead the cursed machine, I begged and cried, and
then I swore.
Now in mighty desperation, trying random combination.
Still there came the incantation, just as senseless
as before.
Cursor blinking angrily, winking, blinking, nonsense
as before,
pleading, "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 say a dreadful sight, a lightning bolt
out though the night.
A gasp of horror over took 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 go.
What demonic nether would wrought where lost data
will be stored?
Beyond the reach of mortal souls, beyond the ether,
into black holes?
Be sure as there's C, Pascal, Lotus, Ashton-tate
and more,
You will one day be left to wonder, lost on some
plutanian shore,
Pleading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
lalalala! Hi! Please stop staring at me...
>:|
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