Spider Silk

A Noiseless Patient Spider – by Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where on a little promontory it stood isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament out of itself;
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to
connect them;

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my soul.

From Paul Hillyard’s The Book of the Spider: “For an equal diametre, spider silk is stronger than steel and about as strong as nylon. It is, however much more resilient and can stretch several times before breaking – it is twice as elastic as nylon and more difficult to break than rubber.”