Truth be told,
I wish she would
unkiss me,
turn me back
into the frog I was
and happy being.
Give me back nights
I dared the moon,
fat and round,
to step down
and skinny-dip
until dawn.
My velvet britches?
This silver crown?
Nothing here even close
to those moments
when she dropped her cloak,
tested the waters
with her toes,
then slipped in and silvered
my dark pond.
This appeared in the December 2013 issue.
Ricardo Sternberg has published four collections of poetry. His fifth, New and Selected Poems, is due out next spring. He lives in Toronto.
