Stellar Trapeze Artists

by John Reinhart

Tiptoe across the spider’s trapeze

attached to her heart and the back of the moon,

carrying the world’s word carefully.

Breathe not a syllable of untruth

to sway the already precipitous balance

of universal caution.

Infinite twine unwinding underneath each step

in answer to prayers unspoken,

pulling ever upward to reflect

sparkling grace graciously spilled upon poor

humankind, in runic messages written

in stars connected by a spider’s heart.