Black Widow Poem by Barry Middleton

I watched a spider climb a wall,
I watched her crawl down again
and voices whispered for a call,
that's all there is for men.
I sit and watch the day go up
and watch the clock go down,
it seems my blood runs down a rut
to oceans without sound.
The spider climbed to find a fly,
crawled down to stop and think
and wonder that a day went by
to end in sunset pink.
You are a lucky one I said,
small thoughts - no joy, no dread.
But then I saw beneath a leg
a simple trace of red,
an hourglass that did not beg.
I knew she did not care to know
her sun was going down.
She raised her back as if to show
defenses that were sound.
But I was cursed a larger brain
that knows no sting of man
can stay a day from its decline
or grant him greater span.