An Evening Guest - A Giant House Spider!

An Evening Guest - A Giant House Spider! 

                                  Dr Abe V Rotor

My granddaughter, Mackie, then 7 years old, sketched on the wall in our family house, f an imaginary figure with the features of a spider and a starfish.  That was before the pandemic.  It was also her last visit before her family moved to Australia. One evening a house spider came crawling on the wall and stopped for some time over  the unique figure.   

In my room one peaceful evening came a spider.
Welcome, gladly I said, as it paused for a moment
on drawings on the wall my grand daughter made,
its legs tapping a message for whatever it meant.

Ah, you are an artist too, I guessed, as it moved
along and across swiftly I thought it would fall,
Instead it embraced a make-believe companion;
I looked into this creature a mirror on the wall.

          More than fairy tale I saw a world beyond my own,
         the unity of reality and imagination, the promise 
         of a child's vision, the beautiful nature of creation,
         oneness in the deeper understanding of peace.

Giant house spider (Aratigena africa) is also known as Wolsey spider (Tegenaria parietina), sometimes referred to as Cardinal spider, named after Cardinal Wolsey during the time of Henry VIII of England. Giant house spiders have been recently classified under genus Aratigena.