The Spider's Web (aka "Natural History")
The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.
And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.
Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider's web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.
White, never one to waste words, wrote this poem in 1929 as a love letter to his wife. Photo is the Maine boathouse he used as his writing studio.