The spider works quickly to get the larger insect wrapped within its web. The insect doesn’t struggle; it may be dead. But the web is in tatters and shakes violently every time the spider moves. I watch the action, hoping the spider secures its hard-won meal before the web gives out.
Progress is slow, and my attention wavers. When I check back, the spider is sitting motionless in its sparse web, and the big catch-of-the-day is nowhere in sight. Has it fallen from the web? After all the spider’s hard work? I am compelled to make it right, find the bug. Maybe I can stick it back on the web somehow.
I part the plants beneath the spider’s web, and sure enough, there it is. Still wrapped in webbing. Still dead. But… moving? Two small ants have taken a hold of the hapless bug and are hauling it off as their own pre-wrapped prize. I am too late. Nature has already made it right.
nature’s web pulled taught
broken strands and gaping holes
mend on, weavers, mend
What Rhymes with Stanza? 
Ah – we see this every day: the victor loses the prize to a scavenger. I do love spiders and their clever way of catching prey. Well observed and well written! 😊
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Thank you! I’m not a fan of spiders, but I respect them. From a distance. 🙂
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Very interesting haibun, and I see your haiku as a metaphor for life in general 🙂
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Indeed it is. Thank you.
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You’re welcome!
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Good one, Maggie! And you are so right. When we try to step in and ‘put things right’ we tend to be interfering in what we don’t understand. Ants have to eat too 🙂
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Looks like we were on the same page with my insects and your frogs.
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🙂
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“mend on, weavers, mend”
This line of your haiku perfectly echoes the the ants’ own efforts to make things right. Nice.
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Thank you.
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I remember being fascinated watching garden spiders weave around their meal. You show a wider web
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One in which we are all caught up. 😉
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Yes
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A fascinating tale–I can imagine you observing, and I also appreciate the lesson (and metaphor).
It makes me think of recent posts/comments/articles I’ve seen about baby animals and people thinking they are rescuing them when they did not need to be rescued.
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Yes, unfortunately that happens a lot. And especially this time of year with fledgling birds people find on the ground. It’s not always a bad thing that they’re down there.
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I really love this tale… nature has its own way to make it right… maybe next time the spider will catch something smaller.
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Thanks, Bjorn. Yes, hopefully there’s some element of “what goes around comes around.”
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I love the way you are pulled in by nature. Fascinating to watch different levels of the food chain.
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Thank you. Yes, it is fascinating.
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