With their lithe, long, strong legs,
Some frogs are able
To thump upon double-
Ba** strings, though pond water deadens and clogs.
But you, bullfrog, you pump out
Whole fogs full of horn – a threat
As of a liner looming. True
That, first hearing you
Disgorging your gouts of darkness like a wounded god,
Not utterly fantastically, I expected
(As in some antique tale depicted)
A broken-down bull up to its belly in mud,
s**ing black swamp up, belching out black cloud
And a squall of gudgeon and lilies.
A surprise
Now, to see you, a boy's prize,
No bigger than a rat, with all dumb silence
In your little old woman's hands.