I feel it to be a noble deed

to refrain from killing spiders that enter the house,

and to instead capture and release them back into the wild.

My reasoning behind such action

is not to pat myself on the back

and feign a false sense of honor,

it is simply because it would hurt my conscience

to take an innocent life without just cause.

Yet, such a Jainist attitude

can sometimes get one in trouble

when the spider crawling upon one’s shirt

is carefully maneuvered onto the bed to be caught

but then quickly gets lost in the design of the sheets,

never to be found again…

because then there is a damned creepy-crawly on the loose

and it gives one the damned heebie-jeebies.

© Scott Thomas Outlar

Excerpt from the book “Happy Hour Hallelujah”

$13.95 Plus Shipping ~ Available at CTU Publishing Group and Amazon.com

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