Song of the Frog Princess
—a fairytale love song
Whisk me away to an old fashioned dance
where old folks jump high as if they’re entranced,
where frogs turn to princes when given the chance.
Whisk me away to an old fashioned dance.
Bounce me on over a tumbleweed rock
where the lake is a mirror and frogs sit to croak,
where midges do headstands and gnats will provoke.
Bounce me on over a tumbleweed rock.
Whistle me under the beaten old trees
where I kiss you—a frog—and you call me a tease,
where summer is all about honey and bees.
Whistle me under the beaten old trees.
Nibble my ears and wobble my hips
with marigold posies and honey-sucked lips.
where frogs sit in ardour and tell of their trips
nibble my ears and wobble my hips.
Pull up my blankets and switch off the light,
play water music to spangle the night.
Let me have dreams of splendid delight.
Pull up my blankets and switch off the light.
Scharlie Meeuws, a poet born in Germany, began writing at a young age. She studied in Spain and France, writing poems in Spanish and French before settling in England, where she co-owns Thorntons Bookshop, the oldest in Oxford. Scharlie’s poetry has been featured in magazines and anthologies, including the Guardian. Her work was recognized by Nobel Prize winner Vicente Aleixandre. Her most recent book is The Emotional Robot and Other Poems. Her poetry book Outbranching was published by Cerasus, London in 2021 and is available on Amazon.
Delightful, Scharlie – an entertaining celebration of lyrical froggishness. Now excuse me if I hop it.
Wonderful love fantasy, Sharlie.
Your poem, Scharlie, updates Walter Crane’s own style in his duly celebrated children’s books. You may know better than I if he both wrote the verse and made the marvelous illustrations. I know a few more serious and beautifully formal poems of his. Here you turn the Crane manner for children into “splendid delight” for “old folks.”
Thank you Margaret, for your kind comment.! Yes this song is a reminder for us old folks how it felt to hop with the frogs teasing each other…
What a wonderful fairytale love song which reminded me of childhood nursery rhymes and joyful bedtime stories. Very enjoyable Scharlie.
Thank you Margaret, for your kind comment.! Yes this song is a reminder for us old folks how it felt to hop with the frogs teasing each other…
Scharlie
THANK you for DACtyls, a WONdrous deLIGHT
E-ven bored ELders, these VERSes exCITE!
What fun! A bouquet of childish verses—but slyly aimed at word-loving adults! This princess is flirtatious and witty. She must attract a frenzied crowd of frog princes circling around her lily pad.
Especially nice effects from the “tumbleweed rock” (a brook’s gurgling motion over rocks) and “marigold posies and honey-sucked lips” (bees pollinating those flowers).
A special award goes to “play water music to spangle the night.” Handel in 1949 composed “Music for the Royal Fireworks”—more spectacular than his original “Water Music” of 1717. An extravaganza! What I love about “spangle” is that word may refer to those fireworks—and yet, there is a wonderful subtlety—because the word can be defined as “to give a sparkling appearance or impression to” (from Merriam Webster)—and the princess here is saying that Handel’s music (using only wind and percussion instruments), and by extension, all the musical sounds naturally generated by water (think of splashing, gurgling, bubbling, rushing etc.) “sparkles” like those sequined dresses and bejeweled crowns I know she wears!
Sincerely
Mary Jane
Whoops–typo: 1749 not 1949!
Mary Jane
Oh MaryJane, Its wonderful that you see these details, the fun of a teasing farytale, the pun with Händel’s watermusic, and yes, I was quite proud to think of “spangle” quite an unusual word to use here. It is so nice to feel appreciated with my little ditty…
Scharlie
Bounce and whistle and nibble me to skip through my day! A morning poem!
A wonderfully evocative piece of poetry, bringing together all those froggy fairy tales in a wonderfully whimsical way.
Thanks for the read, Scharlie.
I had so much fun reading this poem! The language is so humorously clever, and it feels as though you are being whisked away into a spritely dance with lots of twirling. I noticed the reference to Handel’s Water Music, but MaryJane Meyers’s analysis blew me away. As an American, I have only ever heard “spangle” in the Star-Spangled Banner, so your use of the word has opened new avenues in my imagination.
Ms. Meeuws’ birthplace suggests the topic, and her settling in England, suggests the easy tone and reference to Handel’s “Wassermusik”.
In English literature, “Song of the Frog Princess” calls to mind the work of Lewis Carroll, as in his anapestic tertrameter “You are old Father William”, etc.
But what a different tone from the Brothers Grimms tales, where the harshness of life is frequently encountered before the dancing begins. Just this week my four-year-old grandson had read to him (though he does read) “The Frog Prince”; and now he understands why the princess has a golden ball on one of the cards from Mouseschlau & Bärenstark ‘Deutschland endecken’.