FRANCES SAMUEL

 

I see the hungry caterpillar

 
I see the hungry caterpillar 
scrounging its way across the day. 
It has prickles on its back 
yellow-ringed eyes and a red face. 
I know the blue-shaded segments of its green body 
the slow march of invisible feet. 
 
Not a bird watcher, I can’t tell you 
which bird would eat this caterpillar 
but I wish one would 
snatch it up in its beak, throw it high like a lasso 
and gulp it down. 
 
That hungry caterpillar 
filled with plums and sandwiches and cakes 
rasps closer 
still looking famished.

Listen to Frances Samuel read ‘I see the hungry caterpillar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frances Samuel lives in Wellington and works as a museum exhibition writer. ‘I see the hungry caterpillar’ was very probably inspired by reading the Eric Carle book over and over to her small child.