A SLENDER filament is yon
Bright bit of gossamer whereon
The sunlit spider swings — what if he fall ?
A couch of grass is all.
A daring architect, he lays
His skillful courses on my ways —
But see how idly ! For with one light blow
I lay his rafters low.
Yet he ’ll go building still, as I,
Whose castles oft in ruins lie,
Begin and spin anew my filament
By some vast Being rent.
Mayhap, because I choose to lay
My daring rafters on His way,
He sweeps His vexèd forehead with a frown
And strikes my castles down !
James Herbert Morse.