Jumping Spider

It is a warm spring morning
A steady gentle breeze wafts and drafts
Pushing its way across the treetops
And settles in my lap
The pollen and particles
That temporarily adorned the nearby branches
Flowers high above so out of sight
Hidden in the great waves of green
Broken beauties decorate the day
Drop their offerings
Gifts to the ground.

My reptilian brain drives me to bask a bit
Armchair and coffee
I am ready for the nine o’clock show.
Right on cue
A jumping spider appears
And eight eyes wide open
It inspects the knuckles of my hand
Resting on the arm of my chair.
Furry fleshed bristle
Onyx eyes gleam
It raises its abdomen and spinnerets
And streams downwind
Jets of glowing silk
Cross my chest and lap
And I am captured in this moment.

Homage to a Spider

To the spider, whose web I knocked down while
Walking to the outside shower:
I know it is a hardship for you,
All your labor for naught.
And if by this innocent act I harmed you
Stole your very life
I offer my poor apology.

It has come to my attention that I have likely
Bungled my way through many of my days
Creating some significant measure
Of pain, of sorrow,
In the flailing attempt at my own life,
To those weaker, smaller and so perhaps
Less fortunate
Undeserving of their fates.

I seek forgiveness from the universe and find
Small solace in that fact that it has created me
Brutish and yet self-aware
With some sort of purpose for each
Spider and man.

One Good Thing

Today

Take everything you have
All of your life
The wealth that you have accumulated
Gifted down to you through the ages
The brilliance of your creation
Transcended from the beginning of the universe
All that has created you and sustains you
All that you know and all that you know you will never know
And use it to do one good thing of your own choosing.

A spider taught that to me this morning.

I saw the sun shine on and define its singular creation
An orb of web, the brilliance of which might take me a lifetime to understand,
The beauty of which took only a moment to recognize.
It is the spider’s one thing,
Its contribution to this day.
It is one good thing,
Maybe two...