Web of Justifications

It walks its silk

with the nerve of a funambulist,

hung a hand below

the ceiling

in dire need of dusting,

a honey-do

long overdue.

*

My wife cries,

"Well, aren't you going to

kill it?

It might get us

while we're sleeping!

And, while you're at it,

dust that damn ceiling!"

*

"No, it won't, dear,

I promise you

it won't,"

I reassure.

Besides, I'm much too empathetic.

Look at all that hard-spun work…

or is it art?

It's nature.

It's in its nature,

who am I

to bring upon its web

such an unnatural disaster!

*

I suppose in removing it

I would teach it

resilience,

so I justify it...

It would rebuild,

with every fiber

in its belly,

with all its eyes open wide...

unless I decide to kill it.

But in that, I play God...

and then, well,

that would be

the end of it.

*

Besides, I'm much too empathetic.

Are we not like the spider,

I surmise…

Isn't that how faith works?

Walking thin lines,

even as we weave them...

defending, trusting,

believing

in the strength of our web,

woven from within...

the belly, as it were,

the deepest inner parts

made manifest

in each step

we take upon it,

withstanding

the unseen forces

seeking its destruction.

*

For even silk has shielded warriors...

dragon silk, spun

stronger than steel...

Faith, too, holds firm,

when woven true...

*

"Go on, get rid of it,

while you're up there..."

*

But as a math teacher yourself,

do you not marvel

at the biomimicry

of nanotechnology?

If not for faith, for the love

of science!

"It won't hurt us,

if we choose to leave it be."

*

Besides, I'm much too empathetic.

*

"Okay, then, Mr. Empathy,

what about me?"

*

*

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Cover photo URL.