Crouching tiger, hidden spider, a scream when she’s revealed
Eight hairy legs and bulbous body, which a teddy bear had concealed
Get it Mum!  Shouts everyone, as hysteria starts to take hold
Improvised weapons hastily fashioned, magazines tightly rolled

Mum calls for calm, pleas to disarm, projecting an aura of zen
A spider, she said and sat down beside her, gasps from the kids and then
Mum reached out her hand without flinching, forming it into a cup
She coaxed the spider right into the palm and gently lifted her up 

Kids stared in awe, at what they saw, holding their mother in new esteem
Surely she must be superwoman, to hold a spider like that and not scream
Mum smiled as she safely deposited, the muse of their fear outside
Told the children she had once been scared, ‘til she learned that she can decide

She could live in fear, of what might appear, or she could fill her heart with trust
See judgement at every corner, or believe the Universe is benign and just
One of these worlds was dark and scary, filled with worry at every turn
The other was a land of light and love, filled with so much to see and to learn
Both worlds exist and the wonder, she told them, is that we all get to choose
So choose love as your lens not fear, she bade them, I promise it’s a much better view.

---

---

Welcome to Sunday rhyme time. I hope you enjoyed this week’s offering.

The spiders are venturing indoors with the turning of the seasons here in the UK, but I’m looking at them in a new light after writing this rhyme.

I also took the opportunity to look into theories around why so many of us are scared of them, there’s a few posited: one is that it’s a throwback from days when most spiders were poisonous, another is that many of us have negative experiences of spiders as children (not to mention the cultural connotations in the West, anyone remember the movie arachnophobia?😬) and the final one is that we just don’t like the way they move, too unpredictable for us humans who like to be so sure of everything.

What’s your take on spiders? 🕷

---

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this weeks Sunday rhyme time. If you’re new here why not click on the poetry menu in the sidebar to read more of my scribblings? Or if rhyme isn’t your thing why not check out my blog, where there’s something for everyone. You can enter your email to receive notifications every time I post. Click the Instagram and Twitter icons to follow me on social media.