S.KRAUSE

Abort, Retry, Ignore...

What some of us went through on those lonely nights working late (with apologies to Mr. Edgar Allen Poe)

Once upon a midnight dreary,
fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,
Longing for the comfort of pillows,
Still I sat there, doing Eco:
Saving 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 instruction?
These were choices Solomon
himself had never faced before.
Carefully I weighed the options.
These three seemed to be the top ones.
Clearly, I must adopt one:
Choose Abort, Retry, Ignore...

With my fingers pale and trembling,
Slowly toward the keyboard bending,
Longin 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 just was 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 core
I saw the screen collapse and die:
No No, MSWord 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 that English paper, well
I fear that it goes straight to hell
And that's the tale I have to tell
Your Choice: Abort, Retry, Ignore.

source: Idelible Blue's "Literary" Corner
Winter/Spring Catalog 1995 Vol.3,No.1

* Eco = Economics