Rescue

Rescue

Prompted by impulse

I enter the back garden

Lush in its green winter

Dormancy

A frog

Drifts on the surface of the

Too-blue pool

Splayed

Black eyes stare

I grab the scoop

Angle the basket beneath

The pale belly and outstretched limbs

And forklift him to safety

He crouches motionless

On leaf litter

Among the ferns

A small cobblestone

Tarnished bronze, black and green

Slick

Solicitous

I return thrice

To find him

In the selfsame place

For the man-made hazard

The crass treachery which mars his kingdom

I beg his pardon

 Then he is gone

Vanished into shady hiding

Absolved

I  marvel at the nudge

Which sent me

scurrying

Mid-task, mid-afternoon

To rescue

A frog