He was just a tiny guy,
Don't know how I perceived
The minute dot
That shot
Into the corner
Of my eye.

He abruptly changes course,
Twirling his arms,
Churning up and away;
Too busy to bother
Weaving a web-quilt;
Then clambers jerkily down,
Clinging to his slender
Silver thread
Like a sky-diver who
Had just pulled the ripcord
And yanked himself
Up on the straps
That attach
To the big umbrella.

Whoa! The multi-armed
Climber goes limp--
Is he studying me?--
In frozen ease
Except for slight motion
Of his miniature swing,
Scarcely powered by
The trace of a breeze.
Then he's off
To the heights again,
Perhaps to frequent
His webbed den;
His stairs a strand,
A super-fine lifeline,
Descending over
A four-story stretch
From the branch
Of a shading tree.
His route home glitters
In late-day summer sunlight,
Splitting an azure sky
With the help
Of a radiant sun.

He thrusts his
Ambitious, dark body
At a streaking aircraft
He could never catch,
A silver bird
Heading northwest,
Also bravely
Defying gravity.

Miles below,
Here near the placid
Surface of a cooling
New York lake,
Fishing boats float
And sportsmen cast
Their nylon lines
Into open water,
Avoiding carpets
Of water lilies decorating
The mirrored surface
Of the darkening deep.

The little climber,
Maneuvering on his
Thread-ladder,
Has the better,
Higher view,
But I don't care;
I relish mine.
I, too, am suspended,
Mind and body,
Perched on a beach chair
A scant foot above
The sand-and-grassy bank.
Here as the daylight fades,
The rolling glades
Turn darker green
And the thick forest
Casts shadows, black
As the Ace of Spades.
I consider the surfeit
Of beauty that rewards
Those ready and willing
To watch and wait.

I find myself wishing
That the fishing
Could come to an end;
That the slim, finned
Denizens lurking below
These peaceful waters
Could fend
Off would-be captors
And dash about freely,
Like my little friend
Whose fishing lines
Entrap his meals
And make an artistic
Silky, patterned bed
For him to rest
His weary head
For hours of napping
After a hard
Day of weaving,
Traveling and trapping.