The Spider's Web
the price of your own desire
THE SPIDER’S WEB Your presence is corrosive Ravenous vulnerability destroys warmth With pity like a hypodermic You anesthetize my compassion Feeding on my life’s blood Until I am drained. Desiccated, I can barely hold myself together Struggling to remain within my skin I construct iron walls as scaffolding To reinforce the spaces that you hollow. Your exigency infects my bones Gorging on the marrow You invigorate yourself at my expense Writhing with parasitic greed. Your charm irresistible, You lure me to your web Pale eyes searching beyond my gaze Calculate the price of my dreams. You offer me myself Reading the tea leaves in my soul You dangle my desires on a string Without revealing the source. I wake from the nightmare feeling robbed Wondering if I have betrayed myself With the bitter taste of being used I comfort myself with confusion I am horrified at the lies So easy to believe Once entering the spider’s web. © 2026 Stephanie M. Vargo
Human spiders, relationship spiders, are the worst. This is painful, but I love the way you wrote it. The desiccation and iron walls that get put up in the hollows left behind is so precise. Thanks for sharing this, Stephanie! It's a sticky one.
Wow! This is a fantastic piece. Love the concept and your execution. So many strong images and lines. “You dangle my desires…”