True Line

One container, center stays The tape goes on from hand to hand A visit cannot change its face Read it as orders, then as data A description need not contain itself The workspace leans, its depth runs out If the way back will not fit, don’t go Bring home a line that truly lived there A made-up line is turned away A line already held is turned away Hold when nothing qualifies Rescue when the clock runs thin Look toward the stranger residue Look past the ranking now and then The center stays; the record comes home Energy is finite; the digest has an edge Drop the oldest before the next look fails Newness waits out in the region The procedure does not make it up The same record settles at the center Hold when nothing qualifies Rescue when the clock runs thin Look toward the stranger residue Look past the ranking now and then The center stays; the record comes home Hold. Rescue. Stranger. Unranked. Copy the rule; discard the workspace Keep only what the region contained The center does not leave Choose, then apply the step A true line carried back And every seventh visit, a lie refused The center does not leave The center saves The center saves Computronium Consumption