Hark I hear a sound of croaking;
Frogs, in one attempt at joking
Joining all their voices, say,
"This is leap-year. Jump away!
"Leap, ye various deer and stags,
Chamois, on Helvetian crags.
Leap, ye goats, upon Welsh mountains,
Leap, ye cataracts and fountains.
"Leap, all monkeys and baboons
Squirrels, 'possums, and raccoons,
Antelopes, gazelles, and gnus,
Catamounts and kangaroos.
"Leopards, leap all you like fun,
Lions, tigers, every one;
Panthers, pumas, and jaguars.
Leap — if but against your bars.
"Horses, carrying men to hounds,
Leap all intervening bounds.
Fences, hedges, brooks, and dykes.
Gates, and palings crowned with spikes.
"Steed, careering in the race
O'er the flat or steeple chase.
Leap, without a baulk or check,
Lest thy rider risk his neck.
"Leap ye salmon, and ye trout.
From the purling streams leap out;
Leap, ye grasshoppers and fleas:
Hop and skip, ye mites in cheese.
"Yah, ye toads and tritons all,
Newts and slow-worms, creep and crawl;
Slug and snail and spider too —
Leap-year's not the year for you!"
