Spiders

by Amanda Blanchard
(North Carolina)

caught in a web of wires
your face was not your own –
the spiders sucked the blood from your belly
as you lay dying;
they ripped you from navel to sternum
searching for the source –
bleeding you dry
on a mission to take you from me –
who you became I wasn't sure,
but I knew you'd never be the same –
once spiders choose you for their supper
they leave nothing but a shell –
I fought to find you through the web
only to see a stranger
claiming your name –
it tore at my heart to see you like that;
held together like Shelley's monster –
the spiders tried to take your life,
but you were sewn back together
and lived !
no monster before me,
but a new person with which to share my life