As distant rumblings pierce pastoral air,
Each roaming frog recoils without a bound;
Mechanical vibrations beat the ground,
And conjure up strange feelings of despair.
 
These noises that have caught them unaware,
Combine to disconcert and to confound;
As distant rumblings pierce pastoral air,
Each roaming frog recoils without a bound.
 
But stress strips back defences to threadbare,
So malady begins to gather round
With every generation of this sound;
Adaption forced upon them without care,
As distant rumblings pierce pastoral air.
‘Mechanical vibrations beat the ground’.
This is a Rondel, inspired by recent research which has found that traffic noise can cause stress to nearby frogs, impairing their defence mechanisms, and causing them