Social Commentaries

The Frog

by Hilaire Belloc 1870–1953

From The Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896)

Social Commentaries

Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As 'Slimy skin,' or 'Polly-wog,'
Or likewise 'Ugly James,'
Or 'Gap-a-grin,' or 'Toad-gone-wrong,'
Or 'Bill Bandy-knees':
The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.

No animal will more repay
A treatment kind and fair;
At least
so lonely people say
Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
They are extremely rare).

Oh! My!

MLA

Belloc, Hilaire. “The Frog.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/belloc/74/.

Chicago

Belloc, Hilaire. “The Frog.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/belloc/74/.

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