Peering through my rain splattered windows I am privy to many gossamer threads illuminated by Autumn’s play on light. I could see a spider’s work across the backyard between two trees, hanging and sparkling in the early morning. Beauty and strength in those fine threads.

Well, of course I thought back to college and my study of Mr. Whitman. I even did a project on him for an advanced degree years ago. However, I truly forgot why I loved this poem so much. But here I am, oh my soul, ceaselessly musing and spewing words, always seeking some anchor. A noiseless spider, not always patient.

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.