Tale of the Little Green Tree Frog

There once was a little brittle
green tree frog who went

HOP
HOP
HOP

until he came to a mill pond
and an old cypress log.

Then the rainbow fish went

PLOP
PLOP
PLOP!

Just as though they had fallen from the sky
by a single wave of some unseen magic wand.

So the poor little frog bent

LOW
LOW
LOW

and hugged the log in the middle
hoping that the fish would just

GO
GO
GO!

While he dreamed about putting the fish
on a griddle somewhere in a little
clearing deep in the middle of dear
Grandma Sadie Bizzell’s woods.

Oh, what was a poor little brittle
green tree frog-gie to do?
Why, he could just hang onto the log’s
middle ’till his green skin turned all blue!
Maybe then all the fish would just give up
and cry

BOO
HOO
HOO!

So he TRIED

and he TRIED,
wishing only that he had a cup
or a pup who could fish just as well
as a little froggie could wish,
then he could fry them up to sell,
now that’s just what he could do!

But he didn’t,
so he moved backward

SLOWLY,

just a little from the middle
of that old cypress in the mill pond
deep down in Grandma Sadie Bizzell’s woods.

SPLASH!

suddenly went the rainbow fish.

Why,
it scared the little frog so much
that he couldn’t even wish for a griddle or a dish
as he sat in the middle of that old cypress log
in the mill pond deep down in the middle of dear
Grandma Sadie Bizzell’s woods.

So he dreamed of a net,
that would bring home the goods he would bet,
as he sat near the middle of that old cypress
log deep in the heart of dear Grand Ma Sadie Bizzell’s
Woods.

SPLASH!

went the fish near the frog
as he dreamed of a net and a dish
and cooking fish on a griddle while he sat
near the middle of that old cypress log
in a mill pond somewhere deep down in good Grandma
Sadie Bizzell’s woods.

Well,
just what was he going to do now,
thought the frog as his mind began to bump?
What could be done now but to just

JUMP
JUMP
JUMP?

So… HIGH
HIGH
HIGH

did that little froggy fly and all that he
could think was to fear a great

CRASH!

into the cold damp bank.

SPLASH!

went the fish because the frog had no dish
nor no net that he could bet would put fish on
the griddle,

because all that he could do was
was to try and jump from the middle of an old cypress
log that lay in a mill pond deep in the middle of
of dear Grandma Sadie Bizzell’s woods.

 

© H.L. Dowless, 2020

 

Poem for Kids written by H.L. Dowless

Illustration by Pixabay, with thanks.

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE POEM ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Trying

1. The froggie in this poem really wants to jump from the middle of the old cypress log in the mill pond. Have you ever tried to get something you really wanted? How many times did you have to try before you got it?