Wednesday, August 5, 2009


A Noiseless Patient Spider
by:Walt Whitman
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

I immediately connected with this poem when I first read it. The comparison of a venturing spider and soul fit together well in my mind. Aren't we all like the spider? As we continually send out our fragile gossamer threads into the world, we wait while some attempts fail, and others anchor in the most unlikely of places
.... May your threads translate into a fulfilling web.

1 comment:

  1. I wish that poem were about bunnies or something non-scary. I have a hard time focusing when its on creeping things. EEEK! However, Walt is a great poet and I am a big baby. :)

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