Toad On A Grecian Urn Poem by Armadillo Poet

Toad On A Grecian Urn



While surveying a distant shore
I came across some marble steps

From at their base I gazed upon
An object hidden in the sun

And I thought, well it is to be a holy thing
that hides so brightly in the sun

So I resolved to climb the thousand steps
- or so it seemed - straight up the wall
But first removed my shoes and claimed:
'oh the wonders of this sun '

When I had reached the holy place,
the object sat amidst a pool
that reflected all the sun
(almost it seemed)
directly to my face

And to my great amazement: behold!

It was an ancient vessel
of the ancient Grecian race
and upon the Adriatic theme
there also sat a vase

Aha! I knew the treasure
was a simple Grecian urn

I climbed upon the keel
- as starboard as I could of course -
and made my way to the anointed place
where sat the urn in stately grace

I approached and took from 'round my neck
a handkerchief so as not to disrupt the urn
(as I displaced it from its rest)

But at the moment
my hands drew close,
there jumped a toad
and on the urn he sat

The toad I knew at once was not in any way an ordinary toad,
at any rate I knew at once he was not at least a frog

I looked deep into the amphibious eyes
(and knew)
he would understand my pleas:

'Blessed amphibious guardian of this place:
by the holy mother be relieved
and bequeath to me
the treasure of the vase'

The toad stirred not
And simply looked at me
Then puffing his throat
he opened his mouth and croaked

'I am aghast! ' - I shouted -
'to dismiss the Virgin's name
in such disdain
Clearly you FROG
of Anglicans came'

Fine then! I reached for deep bravado:
'in the name of Christ hop over toad
and give to me that vase! '

The frog stirred his feet
as if to say
he would not move
until the day
he was overtaken
by the western winds

'Confounded webbed and heathen thing!
Mock you now not the Papacy alone
but also Christ and his Holy Throne? '

I nearly lost my mind - but then -
I understood why the toad budged not

'Forgive me toad for the way I spoke to you before,
I have forgotten that I am on a distant shore
and so I must ask you to leave
and the name of Allah I will implore'

At this the toad became more silent
than he ever was before
and I truly understood at last
by the smile I saw him making:
(for it made me shiver)
...
I ran
and tripped
and stumbled away
off the ship
Across the pool
and fell
(near plummeted)
down the stairs
my hands and feet
cut dry then bleeding

I heard all the while a great bellowing laughter and know that no Greek sonnet to this day remains that has not been cursed by that Egyptian plague

Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Topic(s) of this poem: animals
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