Haiku

Haiku is Japanese poetry. It has a strict rhythmic structure. It contains 17 syllables, arranged in 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. It must communicate a timeless message, achieving wistful, yearning and powerful insight, through extreme brevity. Thus it is perfect for error messages.

There are many examples of Microsoft error message

The Web site you seek
cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.

Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

But what if Oracle error messages were written in Haiku?

ORA-1555	I rise at dawn to read all day. Sun sets. The words have changed. I must stop.
ORA-0942	My search fails, hope flees. The arrows seeks its target. The target is gone.
ORA-1002	Many answers come, each in its chosen order. You picked the wrong one.
ORA-60	Inside is my pain Those arguments I suffer Give no truth or gain
ORA-7445	Turmoil surrounds me. Confusion is all about. My heart bleeds. I die.
ORA-3113	Silence falls. Words fail. The bond between us shatters and we speak no more.
TNS-12543	Speak into darkness No echo returns to my ear The rest is silence
ORA-2195	Life is but fleeting You shall have no monument here. All shall be lost
ORA-0000	The day is over There have been no exceptions It's time for a beer

My thanks to Jonathan Lewis and Mogens Nørgaard who also wrote some of these. ORA-0000 was the winning Haiku at the Miracle DBF Forum 2003