today we watched a spider attack
a bug five times its size
it lunged at it, and
we could almost hear it hiss
as it stung, spitting out poison
it began to bind the bug up
with its tiny sticky web
starting with its
jittering legs
i wondered if it was
just the nerves
that made the bug spasm
convulsing at intervals
slowing and going still
with each periodic sting
of the vicious spider
'it's still alive
it's still fighting
it's the only thing
it knows to do"
julia says to me
and i wonder if
we could have saved
that bug from the torment
but we just sat there, passively
justified by our mother, nature,
too irresponsible to play god
