Road Flattened Toad © ShutterStock.com

Toad Road

I blew a tire along the way,

and it took me off the road.

In the muddy ditch facedown,

I encountered the lonely toad.

He said, "What are you doing here?"

To which I replied, "I don't know."

A thought I muddled over,

but could never let it go.

"You need to get up out of the mud,

and into a higher pastoral plane.

You are aligned all wrong here,

with only yourself to blame."

So, I pulled myself up from the muck,

and looked around for my ride.

It was nowhere in sight, to no delight,

I began walking while carrying my pride.

I didn't know where I was going,

or why I was going at all.

Some stupid toad had told me,

for him, I was taking the fall.

Pulled myself up by my bootstraps,

but I had no bootstraps at all.

I wandered like in the wilderness,

with no place like home I could call.

Toad road leading to limbo,

is the last thing that I recall.

damn toad ringing in my ears,

folks, I guess that's all.

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

10/4/23

You can read and print this poem at my website here.