To a Spider
©February 10th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
With eight eyes, what do you see?
The universe is an octagonal thing.
And all the sounds of it must be
Octaves of sensation!
Do you see eight worlds?
(Allow me my fancies.)
With delicate, eight-legged gait,
You, a creature from another world,
Inhabit the same physical one as I do.
Do you compute in base eight?
And those perfect eight-pointed webs —
How do you calculate them?
(I do wonder at you.)
So many perceptions,
So many perspectives!
So many pensive hours, patiently
Spinning a web, perfectly woven.
(I wish I could love you).
And some shriek in terror
When you swing down, delicately
Putting out your bridges
From one world to the next.
(I do admire you.)
And yet, we don’t hesitate to sweep
Away you and your children,
All that work, aeons for you
In the making of your home,
Gone, gone in a whoosh of vacuum
Or a swish of broom.
(With only two eyes, we don’t see.)
Do you consider us?
Do you fear us?
Do you note us
As living beings?
Or, are we magnified
Monsters from a nightmare
Advancing towards you,
As you scurry to hide?
(Forgive us our trespasses.)
I am
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
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