My parents have retired to Brixham, Devon and when I was back in the UK last summer, my close friend Zoe came to visit us. We spent a very wet afternoon in nearby Dartmouth and came across a poor little frog with, surprisingly, one eye.

For Zoe

I wonder what Dartmouth looked like to you
the day we found you on the path in the park.
Was everything halved to you?
When we peered at your speckled and slimy green back
Did you only see half a face?
Did you look with an envy the colour of your skin
At our blinking curiousity?
Frog with one eye
You were the most original thing I spotted that day
Amongst the clothing boutiques
The chain stores and the boats;
the London contingent on their weekend away.
I felt a twinge of something like regret
not pity
as we went on our rainy way
that I didn’t have the courage to lift you
and hold you up so you could see
Dartmouth in its 360 degree scenery.
Frog with one eye
I hope whatever happened to you
You managed to hop back somewhere safe
and didn’t end up squashed underfoot
Cos someone with two eyes didn’t notice you