Secreting in secret in slits in the stone a fat spider abides,
Yellow and evil and godawful stripes down his sides,
A species the desert derives.
To that rising thing
Each sunrise we bring
In our hands the gift offerings:
A chip of emerald, a babe of the flies,
A scarab beetle bristling and hissing black things;
A mottled blooddrop, a godly Burnabee bug.
And with a whole sacrifice fettered in webs till it dies
Together we behold a final convulsion in fire.
A beloved pet He is: our Rabbi and our Teacher,
Our heart's desire.
A tangled web He weaves between us of twisted love and abomination.
And with our belongings already we've brought the next creature,
The long, unwinding, writhing, reptile: spider-eater.