Tonight you woke me
from my half-sleep state
a croak to wake the dead
right next to the screen
door of the bedroom
daily I wonder at the
painted glee of your
colour, green so green
it would make the Irish
envious–I find you sitting
in camouflage on the
edge of a leaf or, as
tonight, belly-flat against
the glass door waiting for
insects–I’ve found you
visible as daylight and still
as the soughing night air atop
the iron railings–you play
tricks on tourists hiding
inside the flange of the toilet
bowl so forever after they’ll
see those tiny flat-ended
hands grasping–it’s humour
and the joy of colour–and of
course the midnight croak
presaging the wet season
By Susan Hawthorne
Susan’s poem featured in the original Ripple Poetry Wall. She is a very accomplished poet. This poem was published in Best Australian Poems, 2008. Thanks Susan for sharing it with us.
Susan Blogs http://susanscowblog.blogspot.com.au/ and will soon have a verse novel out. Limen: http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/
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