You have a friend, lover, s.o., parent,
whomever--and you have a magic potion. Once they take it they will
tell you the absolute truth for one minute. Who do you give it to and
what do they say?
I have a dear friend, who I would love
to understand, yet who, when speaking to me, still is not quite able
to draw me into their world, to let me see what they see, through
their eyes. And since this magic potion would make them be able to
"Tell me the absolute truth" for one minute, I would give
it to this friend of mine, my dog, Della. And she would explain to me
exactly what it is like to see the world from her eyes, only a few
feet off of the ground, her unique perspective on life. She would
inform me how it feels to her to only see so much of the world,
whether she would appreciate some form of education, which is
required for human children who I do not see as being much more
intelligent that Della is. She would explain her absolute devotion to
people, and whether she would prefer to be free, running through the
trees. Whether she misses such things that she has missed, and
whether she resents her captivity, and basic slavery.
And then I look over at Della, who is
smiling at me, wagging her tail ecstatically at the mere sight of me.
And I realize that I do not need the potion after all.
Very enjoyable graf for a dog fancier such as myself with a particularly fine close.
ReplyDeleteAll those early 20th Century writers are turning you into a comma hawk--you deploy them completely correctly, but the total effect is a bit startling to the eyes of 2012. You'll notice that modern practice is to streamline punctuation. Classic Victorian writers were besotted with punctuation, and their books look a bit unusual today, but believe me, that is not a criticism at all, just a comment.
I would drop "to her" in "feels to her" as unneeded.
I thought you might be interested in this line I just composed for a student recommendation. As you can see, I'm not afraid of baroque Victorian punctuation, though I'm not sure I'd ordinarily recommend butting an exclamation point, a dash, and a comma against each other:
ReplyDelete"And there are plenty of ambitious students out there too, students who ask questions and demand answers--good answers!--, and always are looking for ways to improve."