Green and Golden Bell frogs were once common along the east coast of Australia but are now regarded as endangered due to encroachments on their habitat, disease and introduced predators.

There was something about the stillness and solidity of these frogs that caught my eye.

I’m not sure if it was these frogs that poet, editor and literary critic Douglas Stewart had in mind when he wrote the following, but it might have been:

A thing some spirit had made,

Sculptured, stony and cold,

With motionless thighs of jade

And foreheads crowned with gold

Excerpt only from the poem In the Rain by Douglas Stewart.

[Photo: pair of Green and Golden Bell frogs at Wild Life Sydney Zoo]