It’s not the soft spoken spider
but her bewildering woven web.

I am about my business
going from here to there
when, of a sudden, lashed
am I by invisible threads
strung by ancient craft –
purposeful construction
floating in the summer air
bouncing in a stilly breeze.
In a moment, my human being is
flummoxed by invisibility.

There she is, I see at last,
having broken her fine spun spells,
tracing home an airy route
while I, wrapped and rapt, disentangle
myself from her creation wrought
with care and magic it seems.

So does the merry world weave
around me entangling cords.
Before I espy impending doom,
before I turn on my heels to run,
I am trapped in her sticky web
thrashing through thin threads
flummoxed by her invisibility.

Portland, Oregon – August 6, 2020