The Ardent Arachnid

I was a runner once,

And every Saturday we ventured to a place.

And this one day,

A small girl- curious and bored and huge-

Broke a twig into small tools of impossible destruction.

Then she, like Zeus with his lightning bolts,

Threw the missiles into the web of an innocent spider.

The once intricate design that perplexed the spiral of galaxies

Now looked shattered,

And small sticks of humanity tainted the work of art.  

I lay down on the tarp,

And watched as the spider

-That fantastic spider-

Lowered each and every twig,

Down to the safety of the ground.

Then up, he’d climb,

Back to his web, to repair

The damage caused by her (or me),

And he did so, without

Contempt or agitation.

So when you ask me

What I can’t live without.

I’d have to say,

Out of either guilt or amiability,

I’d choose that spider.