The Lesson of Frog

“The knowledge of impermanence that haunts our days is their very fragrance.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Home from Spain and in our absence, the wild corner in my partner’s rather manicured English garden had exploded into a glorious chaos of buttercups, ferns, flowering St. John’s Wort, fragrant wild garlic, stinging nettles (which support moths, butterflies, ladybugs, frogs, birds and hedgehogs!), a giant thistle plant and a rogue foxglove about to bloom.

All most welcome. Except that I could no longer see my small pond in the thicket of it all. And I’ve been deliriously desirous of homing a frog there.

A year ago, after scouring all the local ponds for spawn, I stumbled upon a cluster in the smallest clear pool in the highest saddle of a Lakeland fell. Scooping a bit into my plastic to-go box sandwich holder (empty), I jostled it all the way down in my backpack and then tried to steady it during the long car ride home. Gently dumping it into my awaiting pond, I had little hope that any tiny tadpole embryos would survive to maturity.

A few days ago, I set to clearing a path, removing enough density to find the pond and additionally scooping out the tangled mass of mossy, stringy goop from the water. Lo and behold, a frog jumped out! To say I was elated is an understatement! I named him (her?) Jeremiah.

I did (belatedly) realize that I had cleared away nearly all the overhanging protective covering of its habitat, not to mention the blanketweed algae that I feared was choking the waters. I had paved a predator runway straight to Jeramiah’s doorstep and removed his camouflage and, in sorry hindsight, disrupted his ecosystem.

He disappeared, of course. I hope he has moved on, but the murderous garden magpie is looking decidedly plumper. (Magpies need to eat too, sigh.)

The lesson: Nothing lasts, all is ephemeral; everything that comes also goes, we are not in control. And, it’s all a fleeting gift. Jeremiah was a joy! And perhaps, the brevity of his life has made the present of his presence that much sweeter.

“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham

See every joy as the transitory gift that it is, Dear Ones. Every joy.

(Jeremiah wasn’t a bullfrog but a European common frog, though in my eyes, nothing was common about him.)