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PATERNAL TOAD
Finally, toad had children.
Toad took fatherhood very seriously,
Especially since, being a toad,
He had hundreds of them.
One cold afternoon in the fall,
When the leaves were beginning
To whirl, and the ponds were lacing
With ice, he called them all
To him. He took his place
Upon a rock, and they sat down below,
Leaf green and gray,
Leaf green and beige.
"It is time for me to tell you
How the world came to begin,"
Said Toad. "First, there was blackness,
Then a red ball of fire
Rose in the sky, then darkness again,
Then a white ball of fire,
Not nearly so hot,
And so the pattern was set."
"What happened next?" they chorused,
Their minds all agog.
At this,
Toad threw himself down on his rock
And sobbed himself sick. |
