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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPIDER AND THE BEE (A TALE FOR THE TIMES), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He had closed his volume of theorie
Last Line: This story one tiny superfluous token.
Alternate Author Name(s): Leigh, Arbor; Guggenberger, Mrs. Ignatz; Bevington, L. S.
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Philosophy & Philosophers; Spiders; Beekeeping; Bugs


He had closed his volume of theorie;
He rose from his restful reverie --
"The world must be saved by sympathie."

He wandered forth in the summery air
Not much he knew of the stress of care
And nothing at all of the thing -- Despair.

Pain was "pain," and four letters long;
And "force" five letters and always wrong;
"Sympathy" said so 'twixt song and song.

In a rose-bush a spider's net spied he,
So neat, so clever, so orderlie;
And, lo! in its meshes a honey-bee.

The spider was large and her web was tough;
She watched till the bee had struggled enough
Before it was worth her while to be rough.

But a hole in her institution, you see,
Must never be made by struggles of bee;
Oh, preposterous thought! Oh, catastrophe!

So she rushed, and she clutched, and she bit, and she wove,
As spiders will weave whose ancestors throve:
And vainly the bee in its agony strove.

And he who stood by felt his sympathie
Enlisted for spider, enlisted for bee --
"I wish you may both -- survive" said he.

O grand old Nature! who gives reward,
And honey to busy bees doth afford,
And honey and bee to the spider's hoard.

Oh, poor bee! buzzing in vain, in vain,
I sympathise, too, in your arduous strain!
May bees of the future escape such pain!

To free you by Force were a serious wrong,
For spiders have lived in that way so long
They "work" at their nets, so neat, so strong.

Besides, Coercion! -- so wicked, you see! --
To compel that fat spider to set you free
Were "in principle" evil, for you and for me.

Be sure I am sorry; perhaps some day
Spiders will cease to subsist on prey,
Or honey-bees fly no more in their way.

So the sun went down, and the spider fed
On the agonised honey bee not yet dead;
And sympathy sighed, and went home to bed.

What of the tale? Well, it isn't exact;
Yet it hints at an ugly and pitiful fact.
"Philosophy" severing language from fact --

Sympathy's name is a shibboleth spoken;
Dreams of web-spinners be speedily broken! --
This story one tiny superfluous token.







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