Calm and implacable, Eyeing disdainfully the world beneath, Sat Humpty-Dumpty on his mural eminence In solemn state: And I relate his story In verse unfettered by the bothering restrictions of rhyme or metre, In verse (or “rhythm,†as I prefer to call it) Which, consequently, is far from difficult to write. He sat. And at his feet The world passed on — the surging crowd Of men and women, passionate, turgid, dense, Keenly alert, lethargic, or obese. (Those two lines scan!) Among the rest He noted Jones; Jones with his Roman nose, His eyebrows — the left one streaked with a dash of gray – And yellow boots. Not that Jones Has anything in particular to do with the story; But a descriptive phrase Like the above shows that the writer is A Master of Realism. Let us proceed. Suddenly from his seat Did Humpty-Dumpty slip. Vainly he clutched The impalpable air. Down and down, Right to the foot of the wall, Right on to the horribly hard pavement that ran beneath it, Humpty-Dumpty, the unfortunate Humpty-Dumpty, Fell. And him, alas! no equine agency, Him no power of regal battalions – Resourceful, eager, strenuous – Could ever restore to the lofty eminence Which once was his. Still he lies on the very identical Spot where he fell — lies, as I said, on the ground, Shamefully and conspicuously abased!
You know it's never been explicitly said Humpty Dumpty was an egg? It's more likely that the rhyme describes a cannon. Though why a cannon would have a colloquialism like that is beyond me.
