I watched hundreds of tiny golden spiderlings hatch in May from an egg sac that was tucked under one of my porch window boxes. Now just over three months later some of these little ones survived wind, rain, almost tornadoes, birds and scavengers to reach full potential. Now as the nights become cool and crisp they are weaving huge webs, trapping and consuming a large number of insects so that they might mate, lay their dreams for next spring and die. This post is my small way of showing to these tireless dream weaver survivors that their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Ive just closed my eyes again
Climbed aboard the dream weaver train
Driver take away my worries of today
And leave tomorrow behind
Ooh dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooh dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light
I would like to have a requiem for a dream weaver and would love your contributions. You can leave it in the comments below and I will draw a name to win one of the orb spider hoop embroideries on the fourth day of September at midnight.
I love your creative and pictoral ode to spiders! Webs, so fragile, and one of the most magical of all natural structures. I'm always taken aback when I see a perfectly formed web and look forward to the autumn days ahead when the dew will be lighting them like Christmas tree lights.
Thank you for a lovely post, again!
Denise x
Posted by: Denise @ A Bun Can Dance | August 30, 2009 at 11:02 AM
LOVE this post. Love the photos. We, too, were able to watch hundreds of tiny spiders emerge from an egg sac in our window.
http://4keith.blogspot.com/2009/06/egg-sac-dont-worry-its-not-mine.html
I love your creative interpretation of the spiders!
Here is a haiku by Matsuo Basho:
With what kind of voice
would the spider cry
in the autumn wind?
Posted by: grace | August 30, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Thank you for this wonderful post, your test and pictures seem to capture my own love of spiders.
I know, writing lengthy poetry in a foreign language and then posting it online is a bad idea, but after reading your post i just couldn't resist. I hope it is not too much kitch or to badly grammar-challenged.
Requiem for a dream-weaving Spider
You were born a wee one,
without defence against life's storms.
You saw so many dead and gone
of your mates and friends.
But on and on you grew,
learning to weave,learning to hunt,
and you never knew
which wind would blow for you.
Yes grow you did,
and with you your fabulous weaves,
you sat in their midst,
looking lost in their pattern of dreams.
On and on you wove,
entranced me by the rhythm of threads
creating for me a grove
to wander in musings and dreams.
I couldn't look in your head
couldn't know your dreams, your joys.
I just could admire, half in dread
The rhythm, perfection, and softness of deadly weaves.
I looked at your weaving
in fall's soft light, covered with dew,
sitting there, always recieving
inspiration for mindless dreams.
Then you mated, procreated, perished
maybe you ate someone or got eaten, cherished,
in this very act:
was is this, what you did expect?
Was it this, what you lived for,
did you mourn, if at all,
your mates for missing all this?
Was it bliss, was it horror, or both?
I dreamt your dreams,
feeling them, but knowing them never
Watever they really were
may you dream them now forever.
You were something for me
that maybe nothing could be for you.
I truly hope you recieve the universe's thanks
just for being You.
Posted by: Tenar | August 30, 2009 at 01:08 PM
I have been reading your lovely blog for over a year now, but never commented on it until this posting. I love this passage especially for capturing my own feelings about spiders and their place in the world. I was lucky enough to watch the emergence of baby spiders from their casing in my lampshade, which their mother had woven before passing and was still rather tragically hanging from on a stand of silk. I watched them grow and then balloon away on the breeze of my patio a bit later and I still miss them.
Thank you again for this wonderful post!
Posted by: Sarah | August 30, 2009 at 01:47 PM
not sure I gave you the right email, the one on this post is valid. Sotty, feel free to delete this when you don't ned the mail adress.
Posted by: Tenar | August 30, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Very nicely done, and photographed. I wouldn't be within 10 feet of that critter! Spiders are so mysterious...
Posted by: Erin Medley | August 30, 2009 at 05:08 PM
weaver of time
intricately mimicking the passage of our past
a mirage of our world
Posted by: Sheau | August 30, 2009 at 06:39 PM
So lovely! The webs are being built across my sliding doors, where the outside lights will attract victims. And inside, on the handle of the refrigerator door. We relocated that one, hoping that he would have a better harvest outside.
Posted by: Lee | August 30, 2009 at 07:59 PM
i love this post. and the poems that people have writen.
your spider embroidery is amazing!
Posted by: melissa | August 30, 2009 at 10:33 PM
How wonderful to witness a birth of any kind.
Posted by: Amy | August 30, 2009 at 11:44 PM
I'm not creative in words, but I love your creativity.
Posted by: Margaret | August 31, 2009 at 08:52 AM
day and night
you weave so tight
your house, your trap
so symmetrical
so architectural
both fragile and sturdy
an inspiration for all
you have to be
----
Um, that was my humble part. :) oxoxo
Posted by: Sonia | August 31, 2009 at 03:47 PM
I wish I could write poetry, there are so many things I would say about spiders. I always have one every Fall living in the window molding above the kitchen sink. It peeks out in the evenings as I am washing up. Now the Black Widows, I am afraid they are dispensed with - too scary!
Posted by: Jeannie | August 31, 2009 at 04:06 PM
It is interesting, my first attempt to cover a stone was doing something spider-web-like. It was a few years ago (long before I saw this blog) and I was trying to weave like the picture of your embroidery hoop. It wasn´t too successful experiment :)
Posted by: crazyestonian | September 02, 2009 at 01:17 AM
What a nice work with spider ! My daughter (4 years old) wanted a spider pet at home. I choose a "Pholcus", the tiny and elegant home spider and offered her a nice wood box. We feed her with insects time too time and she did 2 sets of 10 offspring ! The spider on the stone is excellent !
Posted by: solo | September 02, 2009 at 01:52 PM
Wow, those spider embroideries are quite beautiful. I have to say I am a little afraid of spiders. Whenever I see one, I give it a name and catch it in a cup and release it outside, but just the thought of them- blech! But maybe hanging one of your beautiful embroideries would make me warm up to them more :)
Posted by: Eva | September 02, 2009 at 02:34 PM
I love how elegant and graceful spiders look. They've always been a favorite of mine.
Posted by: Emily | September 04, 2009 at 09:13 PM