Seeking spiders

I was always scared of spiders

I’d scream if one came near

But since I’ve been in lockdown

I’ve overcome my fear.

I’ve been alone for 12 days now

I’m feeling very sad

If I can’t touch a living thing

I think I might go mad.

No family, no dogs, no cats

Just monkeys on the stoep

They take all my bananas

And pay me with a poop!

I talk to people who I love

On WhatsApp, Skype and Zoom

But when the data’s all run out

It’s just me in my room.

I’d like to get a furry friend

It’s just I don’t know how

I’d go down to the pet shop

But that is not allowed.

I thought that maybe I could cheat

And buy just one live hen

I’d tell the shop it was to eat

But it would be my friend!

That will not work. I cannot lie.

I’m vegetarian

So now it seems I’m doomed to be

A soli-tud-in-arian.

There might be one last chance to find

Some living company…

I saw a cobweb in the loo

You know what that must mean?

There has to be a spider here

To weave a web like that

I’m looking for it as I type

So we can have a chat.

I said I used to be afraid

Of spiders great and small

But now I’m desperate for a friend

Of any size at all.

April 2020

Photo description: Spider on a cracked plaster wall