Here's What I Did Tonight

The Pointy Pals dared me to write something tonight at our meeting, and so here it is:

Like singing, the rain comes

And out come the frogs, singing along, madly, furiously
Like ants that can carry 20 times their own body weight
The frogs sing out far beyond the range of
The coloratura, the foamy haired rock star, the siren
Far outside of their pebble size the frogs belt it out
Invisible to me as I squat and squint for them at the roots
Anchoring the brown-gold ghosts of tall grasses now
Soaked to the core by the mellifluous alluvium engine

They laugh at me, the frogs, haha, hear us roar!
We are the lions of the drenched and puddled plains
The hyenas circling to strike after all others have fled to shelter
Our song is the tiger that has lain in wait lo this long dry season
And the rain, our prey, has set our voices free to run!

But then they sense me too close
And like rain drizzling to a halt, the frogsong ends
Sans crescendo or vamp
While the rain sings on
One half of the round waiting waiting
For the other half to join in again


When I took Rex for a walk yesterday, the frogs were glorious. I wish I had had a tape recorder, or whatever newfangled digital recording device the kids are using these days.

*****

It was a pretty good day at work today, just wanted you to know.