Some people believe the average
person swallows at least eight
spiders a year— or is it
a lifetime— while they
are sleeping. I wonder
what hour of the night, what
month of the year the eight-
legged visitor chooses;
and what kind of quest it’s bent
on completing that ends in gaining
entrance to the cave of the mouth,
scampering down the narrow
tunnel of the throat to finally
arrive at the wet, humid bog
that is the average person’s
stomach. Scientific
American says A sleeping
person isn’t something a spider
would willingly approach—
Still, who are we to think
we’re the only creatures
capable of turning our faces
toward a Mecca or oasis, leaving
everything we know of our old
existence behind in order
to undertake the journey of
a lifetime? Those are the kinds
of goals that ask for everything
we can give; and isn’t it true?
How often we prayed for something
larger than ourselves to burn us,
take us in, change us completely.