Mercy

I actually did exactly this when I was with a group of people - one of whom was afraid of spiders and others who were-well thinking the solution might be to kill said spider. I asked what was going on (as I had been a little far when the ruckus started) and I was told. So I asked if they could just please give me a second before they did anything and I looked around - and there of course as the universe would have it was a cup - so I wiped it off as I was unsure how the spider would do if exposed to coffee remants-sort of goofy I realized later but I did not want to inadvertently drown it! and got a napkin and picked it up carefully and put it inside the cup and covered it- then I asked if the person so fearful would like to look at the spider before I took it outside - just so she could see it close and innocent not about to bite her at all- and to my surprise and delight she said yes and she looked at it a bit and so did a few others and then I took it outside -yes talking to it all the way about what I was doing- and I put it outside away from places where people normally trod. I said goodbye and thanked it for the teaching it had given, and wished it a good and happy life. My mother is the one to thank for this as when very young she had told me not to kill a spider walking up the stairs inside our house as it was her friend, and accompanied her daily; I was very young -and my mother a very wise woman. By the way-the day this poem pops up is the anniversary of the date she left this world. Don't you know- mercy sticks around. Never doubt it!-It is, after all -a part of love. Thanks.