Birthday Blessings

Today, January 27, one day after my birthday, I woke to the gorgeous effects of an ice fog. Several spider webs, which would melt and disappear within a few short hours, were on display under the roof of my front porch. Bingo! Remember, my birthday gift (butterfly featured here) back in 2011? Here was my 2013 gift. I'm sure there was one last year, I must not have been paying attention.

 Anyhow, I grabbed my camera, shot these then took off through the woods. What a treat!  I will eventually post more pics for you, but today, just look at the tenacity of spiders! I found tiny little traces in several dead trees. Who would have thought they’d be working through this weather?  Maybe these are old webs, but that speaks well for  the quality of their work, right? 

So I did a quick search for spider poems and found these little gems, each is packed with so much wisdom. Hope you enjoy the poems and the gifts of winter..

Spiderweb

Kay Ryan

From other
angles the
fibers look
fragile, but
not from the
spider’s, always
hauling coarse
ropes, hitching
lines to the
best posts
possible. It’s
heavy work
everyplace,
fighting sag,
winching up
give. It
isn’t ever
delicate
to live.

 

 

Natural History

E. B. White

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.

And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.

Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider's web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

 

Torn

Mary Oliver

I tore the web

of a black and yellow spider

in the brash of weeds

and down she came

on her surplus of legs

each of which

touched me and really

the touch wasn't much

but then the way

if a spider can

she looked at me

clearly somewhere between

outraged and heartbroken

made my say 'I'm sorry

to have wrecked your home...

swung herself off

on the thinnest of strings

back into the world.

This pretty, this perilous world.