Toad Crossing

Slither of sliver
springtime moonshine night sky,
toads crossing in pooled light
beneath magnolia buds
and fallen almond petals
shaken from early blossoming
by unseasonal warmth
of noiseless breeze.

Unswerving they come
impelled to crawl
by scents as old as hills
across the quiet Beck's course
to ancestral breeding ponds
spawn of spawn about to spawn
in shallow limpid pools
hidden at Oxton's heart.

©Janet Henderson 10th April 2017