I find fear

Beautiful

Not deep rooted dread

Or crippling anxiety

Just simple fear

That of a child

Letting a spider

Crawl onto their hand

In disturbed fascination

Yet flinging it off as it tries to crawl higher

The spider

In as much terror as the child

Always crawls away

Quickly

Who wouldn’t

Honestly

You would too

Fear of the dark

Before you turn on the lights

Fear of death

Before you’ve really lived

Fear of heights

Before you come down

_I stare at the spider on the wall_

_It stares back_

_Both of us frozen_

_Stuck in an infinite trance_

_Until it moves, which it will soon_

_And finally the spell of mutual fear is broken as it runs_

_I crush it with my napkin_

Fear of being hunted

Or fear of being the hunter?

Predator and prey

It goes both ways.