Paper Crane
Location
Bullets born from our sorrowful tears,
cold as ice and clear as crystal
Fire through the dense barricade of the emerald-green,
leave-covered, tree-filled canopy
As an electrified bolt of lightning
fires through the skies
Exploding on impact into the uncultivated mangroves
entrusted to the surreptitious, clandestine surroundings
Of Dreamland’s Hollow drowning into the void
filled with the burning twilight
Just before the blinding burst of light
accompanying the break of dawn
The fog rolls over
turning the frogs of our rainforest over
to the cold, caressing grasp
of sleep.
Morning greets dawn
the war is over.
Sunshine streams through the golden-lit branches
as early-morning dew drips off the soft, petals of the flowers abloom
Frogs dart back and forth,
dazzling in a billion, blindingly beautiful hues
Gold and strawberry
red, pink and blue.
Earth’s little treasure trove
abounds with delightful little frog creatures.
With over 4,000 types
there’s a frog for everyone.
With big, brown, shoe-button eyes
and adorable little webbed feet.
Modeling the cutest potbellies
so big, white and round.
Nature’s cutest amphibians
are perfect all-around.
With so many different varieties
Some of them climbed the trees in stealth,
trees with bark as black as ebony
and leaves glistening like emeralds
The rest danced in whirls of water
Splashing into the pond
with resounding circles of water
Like skipping stones
bouncing onto the currents
of a hollow river.
Pretty-little-princess frogs
dote on Lilly-pads
Batting their big, shoe button eyes
behind the love struck flowers
smitten with Cupid’s arrow.
The rest burrow into the ground
in places where the sky’s tears
cannot meet the thirst
of their, poor, parched throats.
Helen’s flying frog
complete in dancing colors of green and gold
Glides swiftly with embracing caress
into the early-morning breeze.
The Brazilian horned frog
Bellows a chorus
of a thousand trumpets
To attract his lovely, little Frog Bride.
Everything was perfect
All were happy
Nature’s little treasure trove
and all the frogs and amphibians
flew with the wind
swam in the ponds
hopped amongst the Lilly pads
climbed the trees
mated and married
thrust their tongues out
and caught
crunch, zesty flies and roaches
All was well
until the humans came
Cutting down the rainforests
Polluting the air
Killing the frogs just to eat their legs
And selling them away as pets
to live the rest of their lives as domestic prisoners
Caged up in glass
where the sun doesn’t shine
and the rain doesn’t fall
with a metal bowl
sprinkled with dried flies
They’ll never get to see their parents
or have the girlfriend they once desired
They’ll never get to enjoy the thrill of the hunt
and catch their own food
or play with their friends
Never splash in a pond
nor fly in the wind
They ate the mosquitos
that bit us dear
And snatched up the roaches
that repulsed us queer.
They killed off our pests
and delighted our kids
Beautified our gardens
and livened our homes
singing music to our ears
in delightful little chirrups
But how did we repay them?
We tore down the rainforests
Stole their homes
Cut down their trees
Poisoned their air
and polluted their ponds
We cut off their legs
and ate them as food
Kidnapped their beloved girlfriends
and cut them open in our little lab experiments
But if things couldn’t get worse
we took their kids
to amuse our own
and kept them in cages
scaring them with cobras
and starving them of hope.
Now we might never get to see
The Harlequin toad,
so close to extinction
complete in ebony-black
and electrifying, shocking pink
a mesmerizing sight for sore eyes
and the tastiest eye candy any frog could offer.
Nor will we ever see the golden dart frog
so bright and joyous
on such a rare occasion.
It’s time to save the frogs
The cruel, oppressed victims of our cruel ways
And donate a little time and energy
to fight for a cause
that can’t fight for itself.
Gone
like a paper crane.