A Silicon Valley Limerick Epic

Best read aloud.

There was once a problem so grand
It called for the best in the land
Eng, PM and designer,
No minds sharper or finer
All came to lend the problem a hand

The lightbulb was broken, you see
As it swung from a rickety oak tree
Way up on a distant hill
Where the wind stirs a chill
And occasionally howls like a banshee

The engineer was the first to arrive
Straight towards the bulb he did dive
He arose triumphantly
“Tis a burnt filament,” said he
“LED is where we should strive.”

At this moment, the PM emerged
“Hold up, let’s think a minute,” he urged,
“The closest town is far away
Getting that would take days
Not mention it’s kind of a splurge.”

“Let’s not be hasty!” a new voice rang out
“We must consider how it feels, no doubt!
Why one bulb and not ten?
How wonderful it’d be, then!
Why, so many people could be milling about!”

Here, the designer stepped out with a smile
“Also, filament’s lovelier by a mile.
Clear bulbs—all the rage.
Check the DWR catalog, first page.
Such a classic yet versatile style.”

“I hear you, but we need to be real,”
Said the PM with considerable zeal
“I saw a cottage nearby,
Perhaps those kind folks won’t be shy
when we ask them for a bulb and a meal”

“Do you want this to be fixed right or not?”
Scowled the engineer, his voice a bit hot
He then proceeded to lecture
(with twenty proofs and one conjecture)
Until they all lost their train of thought

For hours, the arguments flared on
From dawn till dusk, then back until dawn
Then from the shadows appeared,
(in a manner quite weird)
A cloaked figure wearing a yawn

“What are you?” the others demanded.
“Doesn’t matter, if I’m to be candid.
Eng, PM or designer—
which role’s which is quite minor
when you are all so terribly stranded.”

“We are not,” said the PM, annoyed
“We are close to a solution deployed In just an hour or two
This light will shine like new
And the whole land will be overjoyed.”

“Look around you,” sighed the figure in the cloak
“The cold wind howls through that ugly old oak.
You’re so eager to solve
But all good answers revolve
around the right question: who cares that the light broke?”

I like limericks. I also like epic poems. Things don’t rhyme enough in this day and age.