diff --git a/src/display_buffer.hh b/src/display_buffer.hh
index 50b1c92a..db70d840 100644
--- a/src/display_buffer.hh
+++ b/src/display_buffer.hh
@@ -37,18 +37,25 @@ public:
         : m_type(Text), m_text(std::move(str)), colors(colors), attribute(attribute)
      { check_invariant(); }
 
-    String content() const
+    StringView content() const
     {
         switch (m_type)
         {
             case BufferRange:
-               return m_buffer->string(m_begin, m_end);
+            {
+                auto& line = (*m_buffer)[m_begin.line];
+                if (m_begin.line == m_end.line)
+                    return line.substr(m_begin.column, m_end.column - m_begin.column);
+                else if (m_begin.line+1 == m_end.line and m_end.column == 0)
+                    return line.substr(m_begin.column);
+                break;
+            }
             case Text:
             case ReplacedBufferRange:
-               return m_text;
+                return m_text;
         }
         kak_assert(false);
-        return 0;
+        return {};
     }
 
     CharCount length() const
diff --git a/src/ncurses.cc b/src/ncurses.cc
index a4a84fb5..f48ef7ee 100644
--- a/src/ncurses.cc
+++ b/src/ncurses.cc
@@ -241,8 +241,10 @@ void NCursesUI::draw_line(const DisplayLine& line, CharCount col_index) const
 
         set_color(stdscr, atom.colors);
 
-        String atom_content = atom.content();
-        StringView content = atom_content;
+        StringView content = atom.content();
+        if (content.empty())
+            continue;
+
         if (content[content.length()-1] == '\n' and
             content.char_length() - 1 < m_dimensions.column - col_index)
         {