mhall46184@aol.com
May, 2013
Polwygles
Polwygles
bathe in pools, primordial ponds,
As
fingerlings in amniotic seasThat rise and fall through seasons, rain, and heat,
And breathe forth life into a springtime world.
Polwygles
then in metamorphosis
Begin
to bubble at the warm, sweet air,Slow-swinging, flinging new and awkward legs
In lieu of childhood’s diminishing tail.
Polwygles
rise to try their sticky toes
On
land and leaves and stems, those unknown worlds,Mysterious as a moonlit night in May,
There fully to be formed for yet more life,
And
grown-up frogs are given the gift of song
To
after-ask “O where do we belong?”
“Polliwog”
is an anapest (../); the amphibrachic foot (./.) (yes, I had to look that up)
of the Middle English “polwygle” (I had to look that up too) worked better for
my purposes, and permitted me to show off.
That “amphibrachic” is in its first two syllables close to “amphibian”
is probably an accident.
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