There used to be just two of them
that the cats shared their food with
just outside our kitchen.
Two frogs there were
(or are they toads?),
but that was some months ago
because in time they became
four and then six and now they’re eight.
You might think this strange
but, yes, they have sort of
become to us family too
and get their share of morsels
when the cats are fed in the evenings.
(Well, when you’re just two old folks
in the house and nobody else,
you tend to welcome all comers.)
No matter if you think it weird
that frogs into our family are “adopted”
(although unlike the half-dozen cats
they have not been named – at least not yet),
we feel it natural they should be accepted
for they – just like us — are by God created.
But somehow I now have to confess
that there’s something with them I find strange.
It is something I only now realized
when I put some thought into it
at a time I had nothing to think about
although somehow I’d noticed it all along
but paid it not much attention.
(You know, it is rather amazing
that sometimes you’re able to think of something
when you are not thinking of anything.)
Do our frogs have a “mute” button
which has been pressed by someone
so they would not make any sound?
And it’s not just them that’s gone mute,
it’s all the frogs in the neighborhood!
Seriously, I tell you I am not kidding
when I say you won’t hear the slightest croaking
even when it’s cats-and-dogs raining.
Feels like it was another lifetime when
a symphony would erupt with the rain
as frogs tried to outdo each other croaking,
hundreds maybe even thousands of them
with all their might mightily croaking
from wherever they were hiding
to celebrate and sing with the pouring rain —
oh, it was such a lovely lively din!
But now for some mysterious reason
this old man’s brain cannot fathom,
all that merry-making is no more and gone
as the frogs voiceless and silent have become.
The rain when it comes sounds sad and lonesome
falling to the ground without the tumultuous welcome
while in the darkness I listen in silence, wondering
whether the frogs will ever croak again.
And while the frogs no longer croak,
the dogs still bark, they bark in the dark.
Oh, sorry, I am rambling…
