>>After all, sometimes a cigar really is just a cigar.

Thank you Max. You beat me to it. It amazes me that people think there ALWAYS has to be some subconscious meaning hidden behind the writing.

I remember reading a poem called Dirt by Robert Service in highschool, here's one verse...

"It's dirt and sweat that makes us folks
Proud as we are today;
We owe our wealth to weary blokes
Befouled by soot and clay.
And where you see a belly fat
A dozen more are lean...
By God! I'd sooner doff my hat,
to washer-wife than queen."

The teacher insisted on creating a whole subtext of meaning to it. I saw splendor in the fact that Service was paying tribute to the laborers to whom we owe so much. He says so, right there in black and white. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good mark on that paper.