Contemptuous of his home beyond The village and the village-pond, A large-souled Frog who spurned each byeway Hopped along the imperial highway. Nor grunting pig nor barking dog Could disconcert so great a Frog. The morning dew was lingering yet, His sides to cool, his tongue to wet: The night-dew, when the night should come, A travelled Frog would send him home. Not so, alas! The wayside grass Sees him no more: not so, alas! A broad-wheeled waggon unawares Ran him down, his joys, his cares. From dying choke one feeble croak The Frog's perpetual silence broke: -- "Ye buoyant Frogs, ye great and small, Even I am mortal after all! My road to fame turns out a wry way; I perish on the hideous highway; Oh for my old familiar byeway!' The choking Frog sobbed and was gone; The Waggoner strode whistling on. Unconscious of the carnage done, Whistling that Waggoner strode on -- Whistling (it may have happened so) "A froggy would a-wooing go.' A hypothetic frog trolled he, Obtuse to a reality. O rich and poor, O great and small, Such oversights beset us all. The mangled Frog abides incog, The uninteresting actual frog: The hypothetic frog alone Is the one frog we dwell upon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOW THE GREAT GUEST CAME by EDWIN MARKHAM MERLIN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON VILLANELLE OF CHANGE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON OUR PRAYER OF THANKS by CARL SANDBURG PLAYING SOMEONE ELSE'S PIANO by KAREN SWENSON |