To a Spider

And to Robbie Burns as well.

While jogging home from my run today,

I saw some brambles on the way,

And blackberries shining in the sun,

Dark, ripe and ready.

Five I picked, then I dropped one,

And took another, from much higher,

Then saw I had destroyed your web,

Stretched craftily across the briar.

When I have gone, then out you’ll come,

From beneath your watching bramble leaf,

See the mess that’s made of your well-spun trap,

By a clumsy-handed blackberry thief.

A few hours’ work, and skilled work too,

None of your mindless labouring,

But a marvel of filigree,

All gone.  All gone.

Today, no flies, mosquitoes, midges or moths

Or gnats on the table for tea!

I rave when my work is spoilt or lost

In some computer error,

Or just passed over and ignored,

But you’ll just check the damage done,

You won’t think back

On all the hours of toil it cost.

Now calmly you’ll repair the web,

While I munch blackberries down the lane,

And little by little, strand by strand,

You’ll quietly spin it back again.