Spiders

I’m scared of spiders
Even though I know they’re very small
I don’t like them one little bit
I don’t like them at all

I do not think I’ll ever meet
A thing with just so many legs
And yet no feet...

And even so
You never know
Which way they’re going to go

I find them on my bedroom wall
And the thought that, down my back, they may well crawl
Makes me fit
Even though
I’m sure they know
I don’t like them one little bit
I don’t like them at all

I’ve squashed a spider, once or twice
I’ll grant it wasn’t very nice
It wasn’t nice at all
But better, as a general rule,
Than watch them round my ceiling crawl
Because, sometimes, they fall…

Yet, once I heard a Buddhist say
'Just for today, respect each little thing'
Okay, I’d say
Because I know they say this sort of thing
In Taipei and Beijing
And after all, it couldn’t sting;
It was just for today

But when tomorrow came
It turned into today again
I sat and thought how strange the way
That all tomorrows become today

The Buddhist simply grinned

Sussistanako and Maya were spiders
The universe they both did spin
And since today is everyday
Today is every time we’re in
Respect I’ll pay
To time and space
That’s all enchanted spider string

So now I have a special tin
With special pegs for little legs
That haven’t any feet
It’s this I put my spider in
And so that she can sit
It’s got a little cardboard floor
And so I place her out the door
I do not mind her anymore
I don’t mind her one bit