by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931)
The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly
Language: English
Once I loved a spider When I was born a fly, A velvet-footed spider With a gown of rainbow-dye. She ate my wings and gloated. She bound me with a hair. She drove me to her parlor Above her winding stair. To educate young spiders She took me all apart. My ghost came back to haunt her. I saw her eat my heart.
Text Authorship:
- by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931), "The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly", appears in The Congo and Other Poems, first published 1914 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Louis Gruenberg (1884 - 1964), "The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly", op. 22 no. 3, published 1925, rev. 2005 [medium voice and piano], from Animals and Insects, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
- by M. Ryan Taylor (b. 1972), "The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly", 1998, rev. 2005 [medium voice and piano], from Lions, Spiders, & Flies, no. 2. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-07-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 63