"Jill's Lament"


Dear brother Jack's still tucked in bed,
unconscious from the fall.
My advice to those who love their heads:
beware of hills and walls.

Does Humpty Dumpty ring a bell?
He too impaired his crown.
But oh!--much worse, much worse he fell,
says every knight in town.

My sympathies to the goodly egg,
but Jack moves more my heart.
Oh Mother Goose, of you I beg,
rewrite my brother's part!

Let not him tumble carelessly,
make flat that horrid hill--
and if need be, do this for me:
let Jack swap roles with Jill!