A November Night Poem by Francis Duggan

The sky is not as dark as I thought it might be though the moon it is not out tonight
Whilst on the gums in the nearby Parkland brush tail possums snarl and fight
And in the roadside drain the tiny frogs are singing their songs only tell us of rain
How they can detect a subtle change in the weather is beyond someone like me to explain.

A night in late Spring in November with only a very slight breeze
A boobook owl nearby is calling as he searches for small birds in the trees
The small bird's life always in danger in dark of night and light of day
The house cat, the owl and the kestrel are always out searching for prey

The night is not dark or not windy the calm before the storm maybe
That is what the frogs in their singing they seem to keep on telling me,
Nature's creatures the best weather forecasters the forecast they never get wrong
One can be sure the rain is coming whenever the frogs are in song.

The moonless sky is not as dark as it might be the moths are circling the street light
The frogs in the drain they are singing it is such a very calm night
The calm before the storm it would seem since rain it is not very far away
The heavens are about to open that is what the tiny frogs say.