“How is it that I didn’t know frogs could talk?”

 

I’d like to tell you about something

Would you care to listen?

I’d like to tell you about a day I had
     When I was seven

It was like this

Can you keep up?

I was down by the water with my Grandmother
     We were cray fishing
          At the deep end of the creek
               When out of the blue
                    Came this bullfrog
                         The size of a cat

I’m telling you
     It was so big
          My eyes just bugged right out of my head
               And it looked at me
          That frog
               As if to say,

     “How long are you gonna be?
          ‘Cuz I got things to do
               And you’re taking up a lot of my space
                    Wading around up to your knees
                         The way you are

I’d be mighty happy to see you vacate the place
     So I could set to work
          Without worrying whether
               You were gonna step on my toes
                    The way you are everyone else’s.”

And it got me thinkin’

“How is it that I didn’t know frogs could talk?”

So I asked him,
     I said,

     “Have you always been this free with your thoughts?”
          And he said,

“I’m not sure you’d be the one I would tell…”

Then I knew he could answer so I tried again
     This time I asked him,

     “Are there others like you? Who have a voice and can use it?”
          And he said,

     “I’m not sure you’d be the one I’d tell…
          But since you asked…”

“Since you asked I’d have to say

How do you know how to listen?”

But soon as he said that
     He hopped away
          Before I had a chance to tell him

His voice was like a song I knew
     Like a poem I’d rehearsed

     Like the taste of air

          Or the sound of soft

               Like a light in my heart

I wanted to hear that voice again
     So I’m listening now
          Sitting on the creek side
     Looking in the reeds
          Hoping he’ll come back again

‘Cuz I have another question!

I want to know what love is…
     ‘Cuz that’s the way I feel about seeing him

Like a longing for something
     Just out of reach and yet,
          So precious
               Everyone would understand the ache of it
                    With joy in their hearts

Let me tell you about that day

     ‘Cuz I’m still waiting happily

He’ll be by again
     And when he does
          I’m going to give him anything he wants
               Just to hear him sing that happy song again

          Amen to his song in my heart

I’d share it with you
     If you care to listen with me

     Hold your head up high
          You’ll hear it, too

               I know you

                    You’ll hear him, too –

~

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