Spider Time

Dew drop spider's web

Image: Pixabay

Ripening they hang, mottled berries in Autumnal hues.

Their dew-beaded threads span brown twigs and evergreens, cross every path and doorway. Webs ping and snap under my outstretched hand, their pulpy occupants beating retreat on hooked feet. Some tangle stringy sticky in my hair, span my shoulders, eight legged passengers hitching a ride before their tickling makes me shoo them away.

One web in the front garden, butressed by fuschia and skeletal fennel, contains the biggest. The size of a grape, she bounces on her silky hammock, growing daily, warping the threads around her.

I wonder what happens when the spiderlings come. Does she pop, spread her feathery flesh for the young to feast on? Do they skitter free, leaving her shunk, wrinkled, from grape to raisin in the dash of their hair’s breadth legs?

It’s growing dark, street lights blinking on, sucking every colour but orange from the day and anyway, dinner calls.

I leave her to the speckled damp, the rocking breeze, her patient waiting.

 

 

 

 

 

22 thoughts on “Spider Time”

  1. That’s some pretty prose there Lynn, the skeletal fennel my favorite for the sound it makes. I wrote on spiders yesterday too! Tis the season. It’s good, fun inspiration, glad you nabbed it and shared it, thanks. Bill

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Bill. Yes, tis that time of year again. I don’t mind a spider – well, not the ones we get here which are pretty small and harmless – but the little devils are a pain when they string themselves all over, arachnid booby traps threading across every path and I do genuinely get them trapped in my hair while I’m out in the garden. Real sign of Autumn 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. I don’t really have a problem with them, but then here in the UK most of ours are pretty harmless. We have False Widows which can give a nasty bite – had one in my garden last year – but all the rest are fine. Hopefully your spider problem will sort itself out and wander off of its own accord 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Cor! That was almost hypnotic. I think I may fall into a lovely sleep, and when I wake I’ll be covered in cobwebs…
    Or to put it another way, what a beautiful, lyrical, work of art.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. It’s a chicken and egg thing – did I become a Goth because I was drawn to the dark side or vice versa. I think I liked dark tales first – it’s been in me since birth, or at least childhood

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Yes, exactly. I’m more an MR James or The Woman in Black person than Saw! There’s no pleasure or entertainment in watching people being tortured – as you say, way too much of that happens in real life to watch it for fun 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Maybe I should admit to a liking for Gangster movies. They have some great actors in them. I’ve got a weakness (largely in the knees) for Al Pacino in particular 🙂 I close my eyes during the gory bits…

        Liked by 1 person

      8. Al Pacino and Robert de Niro were both great, though I think both go for ‘large’ cameo roles now rather than serious starring ones. Though Pacino in The Godfather was wonderful, how he turned from nice lad to criminal. Heartbreaking

        Liked by 1 person

      12. He did a film recently called Dirty Grandpa – I think you can tell from the title how awful it looks. It’s a shame. We were watching an 80s comedy of his the other day – Midnight Run – and he was really very good, subtle, funny. Just good. I don’t know what happens to some actors – they become caricatures of themselves

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.