The Fiddler and the Frog

In the stillness of the night when it rains Haven’t you listened to a funny chorus? Cra…. Cra… Cra…. it goes on rough n’ raucous, A ‘music’ coming down to us through the air porous. It is a frog family who forms this nocturnal band They live happily close to a marshy land During day they roam catching flies, their treasured prize At night in water, popping up, they sometimes surprise Equally comfortable on land and lake With croaking music, the night’s stillness they break With bulging eyes and webbed feet, These slimy creatures are an interesting sight. One evening as the light was waning away, The frogs were feeling sleepy and stopped their play. But the youngest was singing in his usual tone Sitting on a rocky promontory, all alone. It was then that a fiddler came that way, singing in style. Listening to the frog’s song, he stopped with a smile. Sonorous though the music was, he felt it had a lively rhythm It sounded reverberant as if beating on a hollow drum. The fiddler sat and sang the whole night on his fiddle With the Cra- Cra music of the little frog thrust in the middle Everyone who passed that way greatly enjoyed that lively duet The sleepy frogs woke up and joined the chorus so sweetly set Every night the little frog sat outside, recalling that heavenly night When he and the fiddler drowned the surroundings in music’s delight But never once again the mysterious fiddler came their way To play on his fiddle, pouring music to make them gay Jan. 30. 2023 The Fiddler and the Frog Poetry Contest Sponsor- craig cornish