Natural History by E.B. White
The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unwinds a thread of her devising:
A thin, premeditated rig
To use in rising.
And all the journey down through space,
In cool descent, and loyal-hearted,
She builds a ladder to the place
From which she started.
Thus I, gone forth, as spiders do,
In spider’s webs a truth discerning,
Attach one silken strand to you
For my returning.
(Sent by White to his wife during a 1929 business trip and published fifty years later.)
This poem was selected by Jeff B. (Readers’ Services)
