For the second year
in a row, a large speckle-leggedspider has anchored a silken thread
on a rain gutter,
and built a languid, relaxed
web anchored below
to a rosemary bush in front
of a large window. She's
an orb-wearver spider--
Neoscona crucifera--found
everywhee around this country.
I like to sit in a chair by the glass
and watch her. She usually perches
somewhere near the central
orb of web, plump and still,
but sometimes plucking silk
like a harpist. Yesterday,
I saw that she had built a snug,
velvety pale egg-sac. A little
purse. She touched it up
like a painter or sculptor.
Fussing with it. What does
she see when she does that?
Later, she'll lay about 1, 000
eggs in it, and it will drop
off the web into the bush,
maybe down into dirt.
She lives with us, and
we, with her. The same
can be said of so many
splendid creatures.
hans ostrom 2024
