Humpty On The High Wall

Cat on the windowsill, nose in the fan
Tail in the socket, paw in the pan
World says, “Careful,” but the cat just grins
Burns through a lifetime learning where not to begin
We watch from the sofa, eyes on the flame
Running simulations in a head full of rain

We got ghosts of tomorrow walking through our spine
Whole little funerals staged in the mind

Nine lives for the cat, just one for the man
But a thousand little deaths in the back of the plan
I can see the fall before I step off the wall
I can bury that version, never live it at all
The cat dies once when it touches the wire
I die in advance and step back from the fire

Humpty on the high wall, laughing at the ground
Never met a warning he would keep around
Said, “I’m made for the weather, not for the floor”
Next thing you know he’s a rumor and a yoke on the door
We build little thrones out of ledges and brick
Call it a kingdom till the drop comes quick

We got gravity waiting like an old punchline
And a reel in the brain that can show it in time

Nine lives for the cat, just one for the man
But a thousand little deaths in the back of the plan
I can see the crack long before the fall
I can step down gentle, never break at all
The egg hits once and it’s never rewound
I die in advance and stay off the ground

Curiosity’s a loaded little light in the chest
Pulls every fool toward the edge of the nest
Cat gets burned, shakes off the flame
Comes back limping but it plays the same game
We get the hunger and a farther view
We can walk away from what we almost do

Every bad idea has a stage and a script
Every near-disaster can be quietly clipped

Nine lives for the cat, just one for the man
But a thousand little deaths in the back of the plan
I can watch myself fall, then erase that scene
Choose a different street, keep the pavement clean
The cat jumps blind when the window calls
I die in advance and stay off the walls

Still some nights I tear up the film
Say, “To hell with the distance, let the current take the helm”
Lean out over edges I swore I’d refuse
Trade my careful ghosts for a bruising truth
Some lessons, it seems, won’t come on rewind
They only write their names in the skin and the spine

So here’s to the cat with its reckless heart
And the one-life wanderer playing both parts
Half of me climbing where the danger is high
Half of me watching from a safer sky
If I ever get Humpty’d, let it not be for show
Let it be for a love I was willing to know
Nine lives for the cat, just one for this soul
And a thousand little deaths that have kept me whole