The Computer's First Diary

Monday: journey from the docks,
Stifled in a cardboard box:
Little time for dates and clocks:
I'm too fragile for these shocks.

Tuesday: switched on: feeling blue,
Though it is my normal hue:
Still, I have a super view
Through my two way V.D.U.,

And my maker in his guile,
Smiling a reclusive smile,
Packaged an internal file
So that I could write in style.

Wednesday: hope I will be sold:
Demonstration leaves me cold:
I've a story to unfold:
Eighty megabytes is gold.

Some of it must go on DOS:
Some on Windows: that's my loss:
Any more would make me cross:
I write diaries, not dross.

Thursday: it is as I feared:
Now my screen has almost cleared:
My new owner has appeared:
Something tells me he is wierd.

Life is hard: he cannot cope:
He is boredom: I am hope:
He's the viewer: I'm the soap:
He's the addict: I'm the dope.

Friday: he's been up since four,
Filling up my disk to store
Applications by the score:
I can't take any more:

Programmes with outlandish names:
Funny fonts and ghastly games:
Will I be the one he blames
If I just go up in flames?

Saturday: this is obscene:
To call a halt, I must be mean:
So I print in shades of green
An error message on the screen:

"Insufficient private space:
Please delete your database:
Go and join the human race:
P.S. I do not like your face."

Sunday morning,clear and bright:
Here's his answer: "You are right:
You have given me a fright,
But thanks to you, I've seen the light.

I'll read the paper, watch the news,
Talk to folks with different views,
Walk the hills, disperse the blues,
Write some poems, hear the Muse."

Monday: time to turn the page:
No more calculated rage:
I've unlocked his mental cage:
He's the pupil: I'm the sage.

He is clearly on the mend:
An hour a day, and that's the end:
We've begun another trend:
He's the user: I'm the friend.

Poem by Philip Brown, Gloucester, England.

Published in 'Metre Readings' (available from Amazon) a collection of poems published in Feb 2002. Price £6.95. Call Steve if you'd like to know more. All proceeds from the book are donated to charity.