Continuity

A function is continuous

if you can draw it

without taking your pencil off the page

and there are no sharp corners

It is an accurate, and dull, description

Imagine it as a rollercoaster

in which, once strapped in, you do not die

Or a waterslide that does not leak,

nor hurtle you into space

Perhaps continuity is metal rails

fastened in parallel by wooden boards

and Donkey Kong speeds along it

with the sweet assurance

he will not fall into pits

nor crash into right angles

When the evil lizards chase him

down the long and lonely mine

he prays for continuity

And when the terrors come to visit

in the cold and silent night

they come as floor and ceiling,

piecemeal or absolute,

and his sleep-scream shakes the earth

or it is just pencils on paper

that only bend in curves