| T'was the nite before release and all through the house, | |
| Not a program was working, not even a browse. | |
| The programmers hung by their tubes in despair, | |
| With hopes that a miracle soon would be there. | |
| The users were nestled all snug in their beds, | |
| While visions of inquiries danced in their heads. | |
| When out in the machine room there arose such a clatter, | |
| I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter. | |
| And what to my wondering eyes should appear, | |
| But a super programmer (with a six-pack of beer). | |
| Her resume glowed with experience so rare, | |
| She turned out great code with a bit-pusher's flair. | |
| More rapid than eagles, her programs they came, | |
| And she cursed and muttered and called them by name. | |
| On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete! | |
| On Batch Jobs! On Closings! On Functions Complete! | |
| Her eyes were glazed over, fingers nimble and lean, | |
| From weekends and nites in front of a screen. | |
| A wink of her eye and a twitch of her head, | |
| Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. | |
| She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work, | |
| Turning specs into code; then turned with a jerk. | |
| And laying her finger upon the "ENTER" key, | |
| The system came up and worked perfectly. | |
| The updates updated; the deletes, they deleted; | |
| The inquiries inquired, and closings completed. | |
| She tested each whistle, and tested each bell, | |
| With nary a bomb, and all had gone well. | |
| The system was finished, the tests were concluded, | |
| The users' last changes were even included. | |
| And the user exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt, | |
| "It's just what I asked for, but not what I want!" | |