A Day And A Life--Love Hurts

Humpty Dumpty Revisited
Somewhere On The Rocky Shores Of Lake Huron
July 22, `77

Everybody knows the story of Humpty Dumpty, but they probably don't know
the rest of the story. Of course he fell from the wall, everybody knows that,
but why? Did the love bug smote Humpty? Is that what caused him to
loose his balance and fall? Humpty admired the world from atop his
perch, and he was happy, even jubilant. But then a not so beautiful
daisy captured his attention, a daisy struggling to free its face from
the matted grass holding it down. The struggle had a hypnotic affect
on Humpty. As he watched the flower struggle to free itself, he became so
emotional that he stopped eating. Finally, after the vigil that was already
into its third day, the flower began to die, or at least that's what Humpty
thought. Fearing the end, he turned away. When he finally brought himself
to look again, he saw the daisy’s soft brown center and yellow petals
reaching out to him. This unexpected sight so startled Humpty that he almost
fell off the wall. For Humpty, that could have been the end, but it wasn't.

Everything changed for Humpty after that. Humpty was carefree and
happy before he discovered his daisy, but now he was overcome by
his desire for the daisy. Alas, it was not to come to pass. Humpty was fated to
look upon his beloved and likewise, the daisy's fate was to reach for
(but never touch) her beloved admirer. Day after day Humpty gazed
down upon his daisy with the anguish that only two lovers forced apart
could know. Humpty envied the morning dew as the tiny droplets graced the
petals of his daisy. Under the rising sun, watching the dewdrops
shrink and slip away into nothingness became, for Humpty, a morning
ritual. Needless to say, Humpty's love grew stronger (and more
tragic), as the sun journeyed north along the summer's horizon. It was
a sad day indeed when the daisy started to wilt and die.

Humpty was not dumb. He knew he could not stop the inevitable, but
that didn't make it any easier. In the beginning, he simply denied
what was happening. But when the daisy's head drooped under its own
weight, Humpty was crushed by a torrent of distress. He screamed,
"Don't go. I love you. My love will never, never die. It is forever.
Know that I love you now and forever." But in reality Humpty knew that
it was over. The next morning, in the place where his beautiful daisy
reached out to him, he spied only a brown tangled mass of grass.
Humpty retreated into his shell after that, his life's passion only a
memory. For him, all beauty, love, and life had evaporated, just like
the dew droplets that had once adorned the petals of his beloved
flower. A torture beyond belief, replaced Humpty’s reason for living.