Thank you
For the spider

We rescued from the cold,
Last night. He’d been living
Just outside our back door for
Over a month. Small-yet-biggish
When he arrived, he doubled his size!
Not the usual daddilongleg or black widow,
He was rounder-globular and furry-yellow.
Languishing, now, in later-fall coolness. No
Bugs, no food. It may be a female. I thought I
Saw her try to weave an egg sac, twice, here, towards
The end. I suspect she is a later-birthed spider, and
Just needs a little warmth and sustenance to complete
The cycle. Though I haven’t seen any traveling spider
Who looked like her, I wasn’t out ‘there’, where she lives,
When she lived through long nights of ‘others’ activities. A
Leg, or a wing, may have flapped when I wasn’t looking. Sometimes
Life gets in the way. So, I am thankful for the spider residing within our
Walls for as long as it lives. My youngest daughter caught a smallish
Cockroach under a plank, with her bare hand, and dropped it into our
Spider’s temporary home. With fate’s tide tipped, we may be gifted with
A treasure from him/her, an egg sac to harbor over winter. And, when the
Spiderlings emerge, next spring, we’ll marvel at how tiny they are, how fragile,
How innocent, swarming off to life, or not, following the webs of the minute-olders...

Thank You,
For the spider.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 11/22/07