One lie dismissed as trivial
crawls unsuspected on the web
of notions and emotions twined
in unlit corners of a mind.

Deception hungers, gets to work,
envenoming weak intellect
enwrapped in silky artifice
(so tightly logic barely breathes)

until there's little left but fear
awash and icy, vein to vain,
as toxic concepts dumb and numb
what empathy remains to sense.

Entanglement feels natural.
Was apathy eventual
when struggles cover thoughts in thread
and truth's cocooned and left for dead?

Now see this through the spider's eyes,
beyond the horror of its bite:
reflecting on what falsifies,
how faith becomes the prey of fright

if darkness starves us of believing
we could tell a wrong from right.
Must we be insects to be thrashed?
Are you too small to fly or fight?

Who would awaken freedom's dream?
Who yearns for morning after night?
Who has strength yet to extricate?
Who shall survive to chase the light?