The Spider’s Rhyme

This is a poem I wrote for my mom’s 66th birthday. Six birthdays ago I wrote her another spider-themed poem, which is why this one is called “Another Spider’s Rhyme”:

At 60 - six years ago -
Was the first spider’s rhyme
Now’s ripe for another time;
Another web stretched ‘cross years,
The dew of its filaments sparkling like tears
Ultra-delicate, ultra-sound.
Its maker, the Earth, eight-legged and round.
Weaving one season to the next
And before we are ready, she’s woven novel context
To teach us what we knew before
We stepped inside and shut her door.

Another year of lessons learned,
Another year the planet turned,
Longitude and latitude never budging from their spots
Their global web connecting dots
From Katmandu to the Florida Keys,
From chattering birds to life-giving trees,
From the mysterious and unknown
To the heart’s cradle inside the home
From everything we do and say
To the place the children play.

To celebrate your birth
Dear, dear mother
I weave a web, yet another,
Where plovers soar and waves crash
Where all illusion is but ash
Where all time is in our hands
Where there’s nothing left to understand
Where care is but a high flying kite
And every moment has birthday light;
Let this be my wish for you
That your noblest birthday wish
Does come true, so true.

Happy Birthday, Mom.
with love, Amy