The Toad
The toad made for the pool.
Lumpily, it struggled
like a walking footstool
or the squattest Ottoman.
A coal-man with a leather cowl –
silent, joyless, burdened down.
The black, carbuncled carapace.
The pressured, anxious,
weighted gaze
beneath the hoisted bag of slack.
Andalucía. Anthracite.
A cruel memory of piggy-back.