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The momentary silence of a frog
It is said that poets and emperors share the power
to command the frogs to silence.
Paused by poets, stilled to imperial rest,
the endless cadence, started, echoed and confirmed
beside some preternatural pond,
observes a measure of silence.
The night shuffles, clears its throat.
One brave soloist restates the theme,
is joined in chorused variation,
and the song sings on again, and on, and on,
long past the last dusty echoes of the
noblest voice.
Somerset 1997
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