Complicated Reality

We think of lag as a slowing

in the data that is flowing

down the wires

with our desires

while our ping is quickly growing.

But as often as it's not,

it's actually a loss.

A signal tapered off

and some data missed the log,

or a router lost power

while trying to transmit.

You're trying to submit

but the electrons called it quits.

This happens all the time,

more than you might suspect.

But we ought to tip our hats

to to the nerds with respect,

because every packet gone missing

has another one behind it

if the client misses one,

there's another to remind it

and another after that,

and more ready in the queue.

They keep firing the same message,

until it makes it through

and a signal bounces back

confirming "Message received,

we got that chunk of data,

we're ready to proceed."

Humans are pretty clever,

upon closest inspection,

we bend light to talk and laugh

over imperfect connections.