For Morticia

The most romantic, sentimental piece I have ever written in my lifetime involves two, venemous spiders : (Lactrotectous Mactanas or Lactrodectus Hesperus), commonly known as "The Black Widow Spider" and Loxosceles Ruclusa..a well-known member of the family Sicariidae (formerly placed in the family Loxoscelidae). ...more commonly referred to as "The Brown Recluse". I include this rather sappy poem as a testament to that fact that, when I am one day laid out on the cold slab of an autopsy room with my skull cap sawed off, with my intestines pulled out and the medical examiner staring in awe at the syrupy, sticky-sweet, black blobs of goo that pulse from my viens onto the tiled floor of the autopsy room, that eventually morph into deadly, giant scorpions, .....that I, Dan West, did once experience the human emotion known as "Love". This is for The Babby. My Morticia :

The Brown Recluse and The Black Widow Spider.

No matter their difference he hung right beside her.

Twas not in their nature to be happy together

And yet somehow these spiders seemed birds of a feather.

She, so born to be alone, and he, who's heart was made of stone, were so drawn as blood to bone,

but neither could possess or own.

Their love was odd, but it was true, so what could either spider do, but love each other for love's own sake, for nary a spider's heart to break.

Ever cautious, evermore, be damned the raven's, "Nevermore".

For the Brown Recluse did love the Widow, and caressed her legs in innuendo.

He forged a bow of silk and tack, he drew it taut, there was no slack,

then drew the bow across his back to serenade his Widow Black.

For just above his abdomen were markings of a violin.

And so his tune, so sweetly played, did woo her with its serenade.

And for the music so tender wrought, his Widow wrapped some flies she'd caught.

And so to her flaxen love she passed a bundle spun and tied with sash.

The bow was as crimson as blood from a gash,

and dyed to match her hourglass.