C Fever, Tim Davis (2010)

I must go code in both C and M, not only C and VI,
And all I ask is a Linux box and a mouse to steer her by,
And the while’s break and the if then and the valgrind’s shaking,

And a dash O so the C’s fast and a switch case breaking.

I must go code in both C and M, for the call of recursive code

Is a wild call and a clear call that never will be slowed;
And all I ask is a latte (tall, with the white foam frothing),

And no flung err and no blown stack, while the C goes flying.

I must go code in both C and M, to the lonely code frontier,
Where no goto’s in the while’s way, where the logic is sharp and clear;

And all I ask is a #define from a fellow C-programmer,
And quiet lint and a clean doc in the LATEX grammar.

Sea Fever, John Masefield (1902)

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

A computer scientist’s translation of Masefield’s Sea Fever.  Notes: C and M are programming languages.  #define is pronounced “pound define.” Valgrind rhymes with “grinned.”  VI is an acronym. LATEX is pronounced like “la tech.”  It is a document preparation system preferred by computer scientists and mathematicians for its elegant typesetting of mathematical equations.

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