There once was a man who was tough to the bone-
who-by and large- wanted to be left alone...
So, he put up a sign saying "Keep off my grounds",
while in his front-yard, he kept two huge black hounds.
And everywhere he put up fences and walls
and installed an alarm-system inside his halls.
Then he bricked up the windows and blocked up the door
so that no one got in- which had happened before!

Now- if you had managed to enter the grounds,
past the fences and walls (not to mention the hounds),
and peeked through the hole he had left in the wall
for want of fresh air, you'd have seen his hall.
The view you'd have seen you'd have had to behold,
for the walls, floors and ceilings were all made of gold:
and this was the reason our man was alone-
why he even had ripped out the cord of the phone...

The walls were like mirrors. He needed no friend,
for he was surrounded wherever he went
by his own reflexion; which (to his own mind)
was really sufficient (unless he'd go blind).
And so he was quite happy, alone with himself-
'til the day he had wanted to hang up a shelf.
He just took what he needed- a hammer and nails
"...and the first-aid-box, just in case everything fails".

So he'd thought to himself. His reflection agreed,
and with hammer in hand, he got up on his feet.
He went up to the wall- something caught his attention;
a torrent of words (far to nasty to mention)
escaped from his mouth. "How did you get in here?
...Put your hands on your head now, and hold it right there!!!"
He lifted his arm to look threatening and tough
in the hope the intruder would not call his bluff...

But as he came closer, he clearly could see
that this fellow was armed. "Keep your distance from me!"
Now stricken with panic, he turned and let fly:
With his hammer he caught the intruder. Bullseye...
The hammer hit home full of power and might-
and so did reality. Through all the fright
(...and even before that!) our friend simply failed
to see that in truth he had always been jailed...

The fellow he saw in the mirror was real-
our friend was the image. Unable to deal
with the truth, he had managed to shatter himself-
while he had been trying to hang up a shelf!
Revival was futile- but few even tried;
and all attempts failed. Even fewer then cried:
No first-aid-kits, band-aids or ambulance-men
could put Humpty-Dumpty together again...