Parable of a Rational Being

The spider climbed into the sun.
Even spiders need to get warm.
Its surface was a tidy grey,

Like a man’s traditional suit
For almost any occasion,
The kind with such subtle pinstripes.

On this occasion, the spider,
Who may have been male or female,
Was sunning alone on a leaf

That had fallen not long ago
And now made a convenient scoop
For weakly warm late-autumn light.

Oddly enough, when the shadow
Of the tree the leaf had come from
Fell across the spider, it stayed

For some time in the shade. It moved
Eventually, but even then
Only deeper into the shade.

That’s why it’s so easy to lose
Track of living things. When they move,
They move without giving reasons.