Stella Cherries: the before picture; the after, no so pretty. 

Metaphors come in all shapes and sizes (as do cliches), and this morning one of my favorites came to mind and to rest at my breakfast table. Life is just a bowl of cherries indeed. And with such a glowing cache of fresh-picked gems before me, the world seems pretty fine. Mr. Ray Henderson’s 1931 classic sums it up quite nicely; words to live by, just keep an eye out for the robins.

People are queer, they’re always crowing, scrambling and rushing about;
Why don’t they stop someday, address themselves this way?
Why are we here? Where are we going? It’s time that we found out.
We’re not here to stay; we’re on a short holiday.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don’t take it serious; it’s too mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go.

So keep repeating it’s the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you’ve never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don’t take it serious; it’s too mysterious.
At eight each morning I have got a date,
To take my plunge ’round the Empire State.
You’ll admit it’s not the berries,
In a building that’s so tall;
There’s a guy in the show, the girls love to kiss;
Get thousands a week just for crooning like this:
Life is just a bowl of . . . aw, nuts!
So live and laugh at it all!

MP3 music sample: Life Is a Bowl of Cherries