This frog wears eighteen crowns
Don't ask me to explain
She wears them with no dignity
And causes me much pain

I saved her family, so she says
When she was low and failing
I picked her up when she was down
Gave help when she was ailing

I was her friend, encouraged her
Showed her how to do this dance
And soon this waif, this fragile waif
Grew strong and seized her chance

Now she's the star within her bar
Her smile can captivate all
men who sense her easy charm
And soon are held in thrall

Her riches grow, her family thrives
And yet, and yet I'm fearful
For the love she gives is just a sham
And her men most end up tearful

But that's the game, or so I'm told
For the more a man feels needed
Then the more he'll give, the more he'll pay
His friends' warnings never heeded

Some months ago she was looking tired
So as low season commences
I send her home, to be with her son
And I pay all her expenses

I put her on the plane that night
Her three months at home agreed
And head back then to England
Having done, I thought, a good deed

Four months later I returned to run
The bar I know so well
To find myself embroiled again
In a sort of Thai un-logic hell

Within weeks, whilst still accepting all my help
The lady had returned to ply
Her trade much as she'd done before
And yet she seemed to wonder why

I was upset, so hence this poem
To help explain my grief
That the lady whose family I had saved
Was now a common thief

A lady now prepared to steal
Not just from any man, but me
The man who helped her when she was down
'Tis right that now she bears that crown

The sip paet mongut that marks those men
Who deceive with confidence and then
Walk away to count ill-gotten gains
Not thinking for one moment of the pains
Inflicted
...........

This frog wears eighteen crowns
Don't ask me to explain
She wears them with no dignity
And causes me much pain