THE MESSENGER

By Doug Burgum

I could not believe my eyes today;
An amazing sight to see.
A charger, bright and white, saw I,
Came riding right past me.

A knight, in steel, was riding high,
His trusty stead in rein.
"Listen to my words, he cried,
I'll not past here again."

I called, "Who is your message for?"
"The one who hears," he said.
'Though strange, his words, they haunt me still:
Behold, the frog is dead."

This rather strange poem was written in Berlin in the early 1980's. Doug had written a fairy story for a friend about a divided city (Berlin was divided and surrounded by a wall). The allegory, dealing with difficult and complex issues in her life, described a Princess and a Frog and a series of events, which might eventually resolve themselves despite impossible odds. The fairy tale spoke of a city, divided in two by wicked leaders, which in turn divided families both geographically and politically. Doug had tried to create a faairy story where hope was an anthem and anything might be possible, including the Frog turning into a Prince and becoming a catalyst for change. The poem was written when the friendship dissolved - the Frog was dead as, apparently, was the hope. About six years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall had fallen...