The Spider and the Wasp

The spider slipping silently along the silken thread,
Seems totally oblivious as I'm watching from my bed,
He drops straight down but does not fall creating a fine cord,
Then swings as if an acrobat to catch the rafter board.

At first the lines are quite obtuse it seems an odd design,
Creating this perimeter it all appears benign,
But then like magic he still works and circles now appear,
Within the fabric of the web the symmetry is clear.

Completed now the spider dances to the outer rim,
Then turns and faces inward watching for his first victim,
A minute gone a wasp now flies right into this fine snare,
A huge old beast the spider small the web begins to tear.

A gaping hole within the web the wasp it will be free,
This mighty wing-ed warrior loose it is so plain to see,
A critical mistake it makes its wing now finds the snare,
Of gluey substance of the web it is quite fastened there.

The wasp now furious it pulls and bounces the whole thing,
The spider sitting sidelined, waiting to avoid its sting,
The second wing become entwined the wasp can only wait,
As spider deft descends to fix the hole then seal his fate.

The web repaired to proper form the wasp can only swing,
His violent stinger toward the foe a swift fine death to bring,
But spider he avoids this end and climbs up to the head,
Begins to spin a silken tomb then wait awhile instead.

These two combatants in the air will both now have their doom,
My wife unnerved by insects here as entered with a broom,
And with one swipe the dust and web were taken from our home,
Perchance the spider came out well in wilderness to roam.


Peter Lowell Paulson
January 19, 2011