“Why did the toad smile after she swallowed a ruby?”

Deep in the shade where the lilies lean,  
A mottled toad shimmered, jade and green.  
With dewdrop eyes and a dappled back,  
She perched, unhurried, by the mossy track.  

One glinting dawn as dragonflies played,  
A ruby flickered in sunlight, half-laid—  
A berry? A pebble? It sparkled apart  
From the pebbly creekbed, red at its heart.  

Curious hunger, quick and sly,  
Her tongue flicked out—scarlet met sky.  
She swallowed it whole. No one but she  
Could know the warmth that bloomed suddenly:  

A pulse in her belly, a firefly’s light,  
She felt softer, braver, astonishingly bright.  
The world seemed newer, the world seemed wide,  
And worries like midges buzzed off with the tide.  

Why did she smile, that sly little queen?  
Not for the ruby’s alone, perfect sheen—  
But for the change that glowed inside out,  
A jewel of secret, and wonder, and doubt.  

Now on her thumbprint throne she sits,  
With a ruby smile the sunlight fits.  
What makes a toad beam? Oh, wisdom grown—  
It’s finding a treasure and knowing your own.

Create Your Own Poem | Recent Poems