Frog Spring

Surprised by my tasting the spring, a golden frog

leaps to the bank. He flies to froggy places,

his ankle-joints stretch the moment.

 

A puddock from his pop-eyes to his paddle-toes,

he darts out of the vital pool. Immortal frog,

to see him so healthy is a sure sign

 

the spring will do the same for me.

He hops past my shoulder into the paddy-pipes,

the reed-bed pockets frog. He vanishes through,

each spear of rush keeps its own drop of dew.

from The Cream of the Well: New and Selected Poems (Luath Press, 2014), © Valerie Gillies 2014, used by permission of the author.

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