Humpty Dumpty revisited

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

The wall was high, and he could see

From there the top of every tree,

Observing as the leaves would turn

From green to gold, and some would burn

With orange or with scarlet hue,

And Humpty Dumpty saw that, too.

And looking down on gold and red

And orange, Humpty Dumpty said,

"Atop the wall's the place to be!

I've never seen as now I see!

From this my perch above the town,

What man or horse could talk me down?

For Humpty Dumpty is my name,

The Sitter o'er the Sea of Flame,

And I intend to see it all

And stay till the last day of fall."

The king was not amused by this.

(In point of fact, the wall was his.)

He called his men and told them all

To "get that Humpty off my wall!"

A constable was sent to shout

At Humpty and to chew him out.

"Look here!" he yelled from down below.

"You're not above the law, you know!"

But Humpty said he was above it,

And the constable could shove it.

So then His Highness  sent the judge,

But Humpty Dumpty wouldn't budge.

The sheriff and the bailiff came,

But Humpty's answer was the same.

And last of all he sent the may'r,

But Humpty Dumpty didn't care.

He, unrepentant, told him that

He meant to sit, and there he sat.

At last the king could but relent:

Not one more man or horse was sent,

And Humpty Dumpty after all

Was left alone to watch the fall.

And it was great. He saw the trees.

He felt the brisk and biting breeze.

He watched the maple seeds a-twirling

And the squirrels at their squirreling.

He sat and sat and watched it all

And stayed till the last day of fall,

Till winter came and brought the snows

And cold, and Humpty Dumpty froze.

And no one ever knew the reason

Why he'd stayed there all that season.