Not your usual Frog Prince….

Poem below found here here

The poem is told from the point of view of the frog, who begins by telling us who he is, how he arrived at his present situation, and what will happen to him:

The Frog Prince

I am a frog
I live under a spell
I live at the bottom
of a green well.

And here I must wait
Until a maiden places me
On her royal pillow
And kisses me
In her father’s palace.

The story is familiar
Everyone knows it well
But do other enchanted people feel as nervous
As I do? The stories do not tell.

Ask if they would be happier
When the changes come
As already they are fairly happy
in a frog’s doom?

I have been a frog now
For a hundred years
And in this time
I have not shed many tears

I am happy, I like the life
Can swim for many a mile
(When I have hopped to the river)
And am forever agile.

And the quietness
Yes, I like to be quiet
I am habituated
To a quiet life,
But always when I think these thoughts
As I sit in my well
Another though comes to me and says
It is part of the spell

To be happy
To work up contentment
To make much of being a frog
To fear disenchantment.

Says, it will be heavenly
To be set free
Cries, heavenly, the girl who disenchants
And the royal time, heavenly
And I think it will be.

Come then, royal girl and royal times,
Come quickly
I can be happy until you come
But I cannot be heavenly,
Only disenchanted people can be heavenly.