Rescue

Prompted by impulse
I enter the back garden

A frog drifts
Splayed
On water
Dyed chemical blue

I grab the scoop
Angle the basket beneath
The pale belly, the outstretched limbs

Forklifted to safety
On loose loam
Among the ferns
He crouches
A cobblestone
Tarnished bronze, black and green
Slick

Solicitous
Thrice I return
To find him motionless
Thrice I apologise
For the crass treachery
Which mars his kingdom
A fourth time -
He is gone

I marvel at the nudge
Which sent me
Mid-task, mid-afternoon
To rescue