My Father, The Wardley Toad Poem by Louise Marie DelSanto

My father, the Wardley Toad, died
last night when the moon was
almost full, and Spring was one
week away.

His body was half shriveled, the
water bowl in the corner still
dirty from the last time he
took his morning bath.

His weekly meal of crickets
across the mound of dirt, the
hole where he buried himself
only a memory of his untimely life
.
His only yearning was to someday
go back to the lake where I
first found him and find another
Wardley to squeeze.(if you know
what I mean) . .

He forever sat in the corner of his
mounded dirt and plants,
never expressing the
the need to burst out into the daylight.
Not once, I tell you..

Yes, I found him shriveled against
the glass, his Sepia eyes unfocused
And the blessings of his last meal,
one cricket, still crawling
up the side of the terrarium,

My father, the Wardley Toad.
died last night.