Buffering

 

 

Be it Digicel

Or be it FLOW

We have a problem here

Both you and I know.

 

Find this word

In your dictionary

And you’ll be surprised

At the meaning you see.

 

Nothing to do with FLOW

Or even Digicel,

Nor does the meaning

With the Internet gel.

  

 

So, update your dictionary

Regarding buffering

So that it gels with the Internet

In its added meaning.

 

That annoying circle

Really gets to me

To the extent that sometimes

I even get angry.

 

You are watching a movie

And enjoying it a lot

When suddenly it starts buffering

At a critical spot.

 

That circle, I mean,

And as it spins around

You are left twiddling thumbs

As though a clown.

 

 

It affects old computers

With not enough memory,

I had to change mine recently

For working so slowly.

 

I was waiting a while

For an app to boot up

Then one day just as expected,

I ran out of luck.

 

It had come to an end

Having earned its keep,

After thirteen years of service

It finally fell asleep.

 

The buffering was a sign

It was getting ready to go,

It buffered its way to the end

And now is no more.

 

As with the Internet

And as with the computer

For us not-so-young people,

Buffering can be a bother.

 

Our God-given computers

Do wear out with time

And often in our conversations

We get a buffering mind.

 

A trend of thought

Completely goes away

And you feel somewhat silly

With nothing more to say.

 

And while another talks

You try desperately to recall

But the mind keeps buffering

As though in a stall.

 

Not only a thought

But sometimes a word,

Your vocab comes up short

And you feel absurd.

 

The flow is interrupted

As your memory goes

And your usual sound rhetoric

Takes a heavy blow.

 

Here I am now

Gathering my thoughts

But this consistent buffering

Leaving me distraught.

 

 

 

Another buffering!

I’ve forgotten her name,

But how could I have forgotten?

Man, this is insane!

 

A trend of thought

And an elusive word-

Add to these a familiar name,

And we’ve got a third.

 

Three points I recall

Where I get this buffering,

Just like my old computer

I must be ageing.

 

When you are young

It is called thinking,

However, when you become old

It is buffering.

 

See the brain now

With the circle going around,

See a certain President now

Looking like a clown.

 

Stewart Russell © March 13, 2024