Mama never forgets her birds, 1
Though in another tree－
She looks down just as often
And just as tenderly
As when her little mortal nest 5
With cunning care she wove－
If either of her "sparrows fall,"
She "notices," above.
Though in another tree－
She looks down just as often
And just as tenderly
As when her little mortal nest 5
With cunning care she wove－
If either of her "sparrows fall,"
She "notices," above.
(F.130/J.164)
[1] Mama:: a mother; a female bird-spider, a large hairy spider of tropical America, which kills small birds (OED bird 9). her birds:: the bird-spider's preys.
[2] in another tree:: a hint that the Mama isn't a bird.
[4] tenderly:: cautiously, with acute sensibility.
[5] nest:: the web woven by the spider. mortal nest:: deadly web for the birds.
[6] cunning:: skilful in compassing one's ends by covert means (OED 5a). wove:: a hint on spider.
[7] sparrows fall:: the doom fate of the birds; "a special Providence" from Hamlet.
the bag-bearing Spider; the water Spider; the bird Spider, and the Tarantula. ─ The System of Natural History, Volume 2 (1800)
One of the largest and most celebrated is the bird-spider. It forms the tube which it inhabits of a white silk like muslin, which it fixes amongst leaves, and in any cavities, and there watches its prey; it is accused by some of destroying even birds, whence its name, especially the humming-bird; but this rests upon questionable authority; ─ On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God (1852)
Hamlet: "there's a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, it's not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now; yet it will come;" ─ The Tragedy of Hamlet
