283. ptolemy III, for lifeblood, for FREEDOM

ptolemy III, for lifeblood, for FREEDOM
(it wasn’t for that, they don’t have it in egypt),
for good, for the books, for dimwits, for cooks,
for all of his frogs had forgotten to look

his trusted frog wrangler, marsha it’s raining
(how they’ve constructed, how weird her name is,
hieroglyphs can’t its majesty capture)
flipped out and found only toads to contract with

toads, on their own, in their lives, in their homes
are fine enough, flat, they’re beautiful dopes,
but don’t have PANACHE, a sense of compassion,
a finely drawn face, or skin that’s elastic

the TOAD COMPLEX lobbies for toads in your pot, but
who wants to eat one, universally they’re awful,
they’ll tell you WITH TIME, with herbs and some lime
toads can delicious be (always they’re lying)

toads can’t replace when you’ve got to persuade
a populace thrilling for frogs dropped from space —
the THUD when they land isn’t pleasant (it’s sad
and sometimes quite messy with mealworms in sand)

ptolemy III for a bottom tier king
his choices exhausted (had) ENTERTAINING,
regardless, to climb the pyramids (high),
something produce (had) that plague be described (as)

insects are out, for weasels it’s south
(too far to attract them houses from out of),
rain, hailstones heavy, fire, brimstone, dead (the)
don’t aways show up this far in the desert

ptolemy took the toads who’d been booked
for plagues minor (maybe in sudan for) would
he do it again knowing how they would hit —
he’d probably (certainly) have chosen to skip it
(cont.)