This morning
I was trying to listen
to a spider dropping down
from the lamp to the couch.

I thought that if I was
silent I’d hear
a sound like a fishing reel
unwinding

or the thin scrape of
hands on a gold line
as if a climber were rappelling
toward me.

There was nothing,
not even the sound
of my heart
in my ears.

Because the noiseless
does not exist for us
in our loud nowadays,
I killed the spider.

It was like killing nothing
because I did not hear it scream,
and my heart did not scream
either.  It may have vanished

a while ago — or I may be growing
deaf.  If that’s true,
my God, how will I ever
be modern again?