The Sand Hill Review               http://www.sandhillreview.org 2011

Humpty Dumpty

The horses were no help,

except as glue. The men tried.

But there were too many

with no one actually in charge.

The king himself was not involved,

though I appreciated his attention to the matter.

When I fell and the light shrieked in,

the pain of the light was as great as breaking.

I lost all smoothness, and all privacy.

So many have seen the slime buttering my innards,

the jam of my blood! I think all the king’s

dogs began drooling.

I’ve turned into a man of lumps and seams,

fault lines quivering for an excuse to rupture.

You’d never trust me now

not to fall apart. I spend my days

doing puzzles: put the right number

in the right square. I recommend it.

People—the worst ones—are always chiding me:

What were you thinking? Sitting on the wall!

As if they don’t see the ledge they’re perched on!

As if there weren’t ten thousand at this moment

sitting at the edge of some high place,

feeling oddly in command of the world.

For an instant too long I leaned on nothing,

but I’m not sorry I sat there,

not sorry.

Charlotte Muse