# Machine Balerina
# By Suzanne Vega

# First, some definitions:
use strict;

our ($i_am, %you, $your, $we); # get these 'my' out of the way.
my $what = "thrown and received";
my $when = "on somebody's birthday";
my $whatfor = "for tease and delight";

sub soldier_of_tin {
	my %position = @_;
	while ($you{sit} eq 'royal') {
		 if ($position{standing} eq 'loyal') {
			return "soldier of tin";
		}else {return;}
	}
}

sub your_phantasy_girl {
	my $parts;
	if ($parts = made_of($i_am, 'puzzling parts') and not $parts eq ('fits' or 'starts') 
		and $we =~ /wits/ and $we !~ /hearts/) {return "heard but never seen";}
		else {return "phantasy girl";}
}

sub made_of {
	my $material = shift;
	if ($material =~ /parts$/) {
		$material =~ s/\s*parts$//;
		return $material;
	}
}

# The ultimate question...
sub what_am_I {
	if (($i_am eq "a thing on a a string to be $what $when $whatfor") 
		and print "goodnight" and print "goodby") {
			return "an afternoon pastime";
	} else {
		my $retval;
		for my $something (
			"a toy on a tray",
			"a soft piece of clay",
			"qween or clown for the day",
			"machine balerina",
			soldier_of_tin(standing => 'loyal') )
		{($retval = ("$i_am, " . &chorus)) if ($i_am eq $something) }

		unless ($retval) {
			for my $something (
				"Mad Magazine",
				"skin trampoline",
				"pin-up pinball machine",
				your_phantasy_girl )
			{($retval = ("$i_am, " . &chorus)) if ($i_am eq $something) }
		}

		unless ($retval) {$retval = "your love";}
		return $retval;
	}
		
}

sub chorus {
	for $your ("approval", "persual", "possible refusal") {
		$i_am = "amusing";
		$i_am = "a puppet for your play";
	}
	return $i_am;
}

OPTIMISTIC_RUN:
$we = "equal in wits";
$you{sit} = 'royal';

print "what am I to you? \n";
print what_am_I;

PESIMISTIC_RUN:
$i_am = "soldier of tin";

print "\n\nwhat am I to you? \n";
print what_am_I;