Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king's horses
And all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
--Traditional

For my brother Mathew,
whose love of the absurd--
and the profound--
enlightened my childhood

It was the week following Easter in Reading, and no one could remember the last sunny day.

'I don't know,' he replied with an almost imperceptible shrug as grateful unconsciousness, heavy and black, swept toward him, 'sometimes the name just fits.'