If My Life Were A ...

... Short Story

... Play

... Poem

... Novel

Then which ones would it be?

That is the little game that Enbrethiliel was playing. It took my fancy as these things do.

It is one thing to say that one has a favorite in these categories and quite another to find one which reflects some essence of one's life. That makes such a question quite an entertaining one to fall back upon in moments of spare time.

The interesting thing is that the answers have quite surprised me. Actually, I also was surprised that I thought of the answer to the poem first of all, considering that I am not crazy about poetry.

I haven't thought of a play yet. I have not actually seen tons of plays, it occurs to me, and therefore I am suffering from a paucity of material. However, I continue musing on that ...

So I will answer these one at a time.

If my life were a poem it would be...

The King's Breakfast

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said, "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!:
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."

The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

Alan Alexander Milne

Why the heck is this my life?

The question would center around whether or not the king is a fussy man.

If you contend that he is, then I have much in common with him as I have definite preferences for practically everything. Quite often, if I can't have it the way I like it then I might just as well go back to bed.

Not that I would go back to bed. I also would not skip breakfast. However, I might just skip the toast altogether.

That was the past Julie D. (The pre-Christian Julie D. ... and, to be honest, some of the Christian Julie D. as well).

If we declare that the King is not fussy but just knows what matters and what is right to put on his toast ... essentially knows how to hold out for the truth of what makes toast its very best ... well, can't we all see that part of me? The one that digs in her heels for what is true and will put up a bit of a fight to make her point?

Also I believe that I essentially am a person who would slide down bannisters regularly in an expression of joy, should there ever be any bannisters around.

Now, that was as fine a bit of "reading into" as I believe can be done with a children's poem.