Escape of the Spider Mohamud Verjee | Assistant Dean, Medical Student Affairs, WCM-Qatar

Escape of the Spider

Mohamud Verjee Poetry

I think spiders have such grace Can’t understand why others scream At their mere appearance Generating a fright index

“Ooh, a spider, get it away, get rid of it” As an unwitting helper starts the affray With a swipe of a magazine Swish, swish, “I think I’ve got it”

As a crumpled, hapless creature Sinks to the floor, brute force wins But what harm did it give rise to Apart from an unfounded fear?

Legs curled beneath, body now in a ball Paid the price just because it was observed Ruthlessly, needlessly displaced in the assault Irreparable damage possible, done on a whim

Have you no soul, no heart, no love of life Would you destroy anything else in a moment? Simply because you had no reason or liking Understanding nothing of this little creature

I saw someone suck up a family of spiders once With a vacuum cleaner no less What a gory death, to be snuffed out In a bag of dust, hair, and general house filth

No compassion, would you want to go this way Better to be gentle, help the spider on to some paper And let the creature go on its way, to be free, at its best To spin a web of silky thread in marvellous array

Don’t all God’s creations deserve respect Would you deny a person a right in time? Denied only because of your vanity For having a senseless fear of people

Lo! You have not won yet, as it scuttles away Out of the corner of your eye, you sense motion You missed the spider, it just fell to the floor Feigning death, intact to live another day