Ode to a toad

I’ve a clumsy hop and a heavy girth
I’m without a trace of beauty
One glance at me
Has all and sundry
Believing my death is their duty.

I can’t help my brown and warty skin
Nor my bulbous eyes set far apart
But my stocky build
Is generously filled
With a gentle albeit lonely heart.

I was imported to eat cane beetles
Scientists’ hopes were naturally high
The beetle flew
I’d nought to do
But go forth and multiply.

I am prey to native fauna
For I am slow and ideally sized
But threatened I secrete
Poison predators eat
Sadly this has seen them well demised.

I am collateral damage
Of an ill-planned experiment
I'm much maligned
By souls unkind
Who punish me with contempt.

I am speared, I’m drowned, I’m clubbed at night
I am doused in toxic Dettol
I’ve no defence
Considered pestilence
For reasons beyond my control.

Since I’m an innocent victim

Of science meddling in Nature’s way
Promise when we meet
You will let me greet
The morning light of another day.