In The Company Of Annabel

Friends to end

In The Company Of Annabel

Annabel walks her eight legged friend

On a leash for the sake of safety into town

On a cold day born straight from autumn

At least the chill will keep them on the narrow

The birch tree shares her soul with God

Leaves crisping as of late now lost of shade

Share their demise scurrying off deciduous

Around the ground before the snow sets in

Covering their merriment for the sake of silence

The white spider could easily be misunderstood

For purity is surely not a name for killer pets

An oddity in nature governed not by love

With a red hourglass printed on the back

By design or crime, advertising black widow

But what is death but another name for heaven

They only stop to watch the skeletal remains

Of what was once in spring a thing of beauty

A birch by any other name is still a tree

Annabel spins a silver silken web of lies

To passers by who wonder why

She tells them it will not bite

But if it does we all must die sometime

The creature has the situation well in hand

Being at the end of her sweet masters tether

Should she eat her mate or simply take a bite

Surely it would be by mistake or pleasure

And with so many legs to walk around

Stepping out on the town for fun

They must feel comforted in each others company

As long as the strap holds out