They say the weight of spiders in an acre
Runs to many pounds, hundreds maybe,
Which only proves that little things
Add up, bear down amazingly.
I knew a heart that lay open like a field,
Enduring life’s accumulating grams
Beneath the weightless sunshine falling
Down to lighten it, somehow failing.
The grasses do not break beneath their load
Of webs and weavers. Hearts are different.
For nearly ninety turns of seasons,
The heart I knew beat so as not to be beaten down,
Every stroke a contest, protest really,
Against the ceaseless weight of spiders.
Robert Cosgriff is a retired Navy Commander who now resides in Fairfax, VA. He graduated magna cum laude from Villanova and earned an MA in Education from Pepperdine. He now works for a national security consultancy firm. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in California Quarterly, Carquinez Poetry Review, Crucible, Cumberland Review (Finalist, 2003 Robert Penn Warren Poetry Award), California State Poetry Society Poetry Letter and Literary Review (First Place, January 2007 Contest), Eclipse, English Journal, Epicenter, Nassau Review (Best Poem, 2003), South Carolina Review, Southern Indiana Review, The Cape Rock, Wisconsin Review, and Xavier Review. A collection of his poems, Silent Tasting (Airleaf,2005) is available.