18

THE SPIDER

Spider

My web was in luck, for I caught twenty flies

Too near to the earth, but too far from the skies ;

And I bundled them in with the other supplies,
Like a thrifty and long-headed spider.

Now some were fond lovers, who, buzzing of love,
Looked never around them, below or above,
But popped in my web as a hand to a glove,

In a manner approved by a spider.

And one is a maiden most lovely to see,
Whose colours betoken a splendid degree ;
She will make a donne bouche for the kind of High
Tea
That appeals to the taste of a spider.

But each of the other ones followed a trade,

One served with a needle, one dug with a spade ;

And they’re all of them greatly abased, and afraid
Of their keeper, and eater, the spider.

When feeding-time comes in the cool of the dew,

I shall sup on a plump but a truculent Jew,

Who, because he is caught, makes a pretty to-do
That provokes all the gorge of a spider.