A Tadpole's Journey (The Tapeworm's Daughter)

one of these days
i'll climb that mountain
up through the clouds
to the world's freshest fountain
at least of ones that i know
there's a girl i want to show
exactly what i's made of
there's nothing i'm afraid of
but first i gotta live long
grow legs
get strong
practice all the old songs
the older frogs had passed along
and by the onset of autumn
my legs i got em
old buck came to visit
same day as the hunter that shot him

i don't know how
i didn't care why
but she shone bright as a firefly
since that night we watched the sky
and she told me she watches signs
constellations
planets too
the way things happen
how they do
and by the edge of the water
eagle slaughtered otter
and the tick ran away
with the tapeworm's daughter

oh but on the day she comes back
i'll take her roses
she can wear em in her hair
and put vines on my shoulders
oceans'd swell up
the earth would move boulders
but there ain't nothin in here
older books never told us
because vines root deep
and reach up for the sky
they thrive in the sun
and in winter they die