Satura Prize 2010

Certainty

by Elaine Barker

 

If I had told you

about the spider-web

which bridged the space

between two small branches

on the Prunus pissardi

I’d come upon

that cold morning

on the path across the garden

and if I’d spoken of its spare mystery,

the threads strung from its bridge line,

each silk strand spun with dewdrops,

each glistening sharp and fine,

that web would have drawn you in

and you would have marvelled

at its mathematical precision,

the clarity of design,

and would have pictured it

like an unspoken whisper

and carried it with you

as I have done.