“A Noiseless Patient Spider”

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them — ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, — seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d — till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.


Written in 1868 by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)




I love this poem, and its comparison between the poet's soul and the spider, both trying to anchor a gossamer thread onto somewhere (something, someone?) as they venture out to explore their particular universe.  It reminds me of how daunting it was to leave school for my first taste of living and working in an adult world.  I'm thinking of my beautiful great-niece Adele, who is just setting off on that same journey as she adjusts and settles into her first term at college.  The strong thread which anchors her to a loving family will sustain her, just as it has always done for me.