It is not really a web
Just a single filament
Bridging a 5-foot chasm betwen the arm of the chair and the bench.
But the darn thing is almost horizontal!
The bench is just a few inches lower than the arm of the chair.
How
Did the spider cast a 5-foot line across that void?
And how soon will it break?

There's a pretty stiff breeze and the line is
Billowing
Like the sails of a boat.
But it's flexibilty, attachments, and strength are sufficient.
It holds as it moves in the wind,
Much stronger than it looks.

And then I saw the magical one.

This bridge was attempting to cross a similar chasm
From chairs across to bench.
But the ends of this filament were only a few inches apart
Attached to the backs of two chairs, close together.
The spider had done quite a bit of webwork between the two chairs.

But the magical thread, 10 feet long, extended 5 feet into space
Held horizontal only by the wind.
The open part of this u-shaped creature were the two ends of the filament
Attached only inches apart.
At a distance of 5 feet its snout stretched out
Probing, as if reaching for the other side.

It wasn't going to work.

The uncrossed space to the bench was another five feet.
The ten-foot line, doubled back on itself was too short.
Either, more line would be needed for a longer U
Or one end,detached, could fling across.

But the engineering didn't matter.

The important thing was the beauty of the dance.
As the wind moved, it support the U-shaped line
simultaneously 1, 2, and 3 dimensions.

Moving out into space, the line defined an interior surface
Also constantly moving and changing shape
A two-dimensional thing, dancing in 3-D.

by Maggie Heineman, August 7, 1996

Picture postcard showing the deck on which the gossamer bridge was built

Visibility .... The Pool
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