02-24-2011, 12:32 PM
The basic point of the poem is that life has no meaning, that it isn't a universally positive or negative experience. Some people are happy, others are not. There are upsides and downsides, some cherries in the bowl, as you said. That line in dialogue was part of the original last verse which I changed because I found it too flat, though I liked that line too much to discard it. But if it obscures my meaning I'll ditch it right away.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe