Tag Archives: poetry

“The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt . read by Alice B. Clagett

"The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt . read by Alice B. Clagett

Image: “The Spider and the Fly,” adapted from “Ai Generated, Girl, Spider royalty-free stock illustration. Free for use & download” from Pixabay – Pixabay License

Image: “The Spider and the Fly,” adapted from “Ai Generated, Girl, Spider royalty-free stock illustration. Free for use & download” from Pixabay – Pixabay License

  • INTRODUCTION
  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
  • VIDEO CREDITS
  • CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Dear Ones,

Here’s a video of the poem “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt, as read by Alice B. Clagett …

VIDEO BY ALICE

youtube link: https://youtu.be/mjX0q1reZnY ..

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

“The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt
Read by Alice B. Clagett

Hello, Dear Ones. It’s Alice. I Am of the Stars.

I found a book of children’s poems I liked.

I picked some out for you all.

They might not be too well known.

The one I have in mind right now is called “The Spider and the Fly.”

And it’s written by Mary Howitt. H O W I T T.

It was written a long time ago and it goes like this …

“The Spider and the Fly.”

“Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,
“‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to shew when you are there.”
“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

“I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the Spider to the Fly.
“There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin,
And if you like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly tuck you in!”
“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “for I’ve often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!”

Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, “Dear friend what can I do,
To prove the warm affection I’ve always felt for you?
I have within my pantry, good store of all that’s nice;
I’m sure you’re very welcome–will you please to take a slice?”
“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “kind sir, that cannot be,
I’ve heard what’s in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!”

“Sweet creature!” said the Spider, “you’re witty and you’re wise,
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I’ve a little looking-glass upon my parlour shelf,
If you’ll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself.”
“I thank you, gentle sir,” she said, “for what you’re pleased to say,
And bidding you good morning now, I’ll call another day.”

The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly Fly would soon come back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,
And set his table ready, to dine upon the Fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
“Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple–there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!”

Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,–
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;
Thinking only of her crested head–-poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour–-but she ne’er came out again!

And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.

That’s the end.

This is a poem called “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt.

And this came from a book called “Children’s Poems That Never Grow Old for Little Folks from 6 to 12 years Old.”

Looks like it was compiled by a gentleman named Clement F. Benoit, B E N O I T, and put out in the year 1922.

So, it’s in the public domain.

God bless you all, keep you safe, and be with you through all your days.

In love, Light, and joy, this is Alice B. Clagett.

I Am of the Stars … and you are too!

Come and visit me at “Awakening with Planet Earth” … https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

See you there!

VIDEO CREDITS

“”The Spider and the Fly”
A Poem by Mary Howitt
–from “Children’s Poems That Never Grow Old, for Little Folks from Six to Twelve Years Old,” Clement F. Benoit, Compiler, 1922, The Reilly & Lee co, Chicago, retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/22013224/ … public domain

Read by Alice B. Clagett

Filmed and produced on 14 October 2026
Location: San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, CA

Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International –
By Alice B. Clagett

. . . . .

My website is “Awakening with Planet Earth”

Home

CONCLUSION

Io lux et pax nobiscum.
Joy, light and peace be with us!
— Alice B. Clagett

“Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea; quem timebo?”
The Lord is my Light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Filmed and published on 14 October 2026

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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poetry, arachnids, arthropods, insects, flies, spiders, Stories and songs and blessings for children, child molestation, murder, poems for children,

Paramount Ranch 6: The Path Less Traveled ~ and ~ An Awfully Sad Ghost Story ~ with Guest Appearance by Hummingbird! . by Alice B. Clagett

Paramount Ranch 6: The Path Less Traveled ~ and ~ An Awfully Sad Ghost Story ~ with ~ Guest Appearance by Hummingbird!

Drawing: “Ghosts,” by Alice B. Clagett, 25 June 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

Drawing: “Ghosts,” by Alice B. Clagett, 25 June 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

  • INTRODUCTION
  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • CONCLUSION
  • MORE INFORMATION
  • VIDEO CREDITS
  • MORE INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

Dear Ones,

This is the sixth video in the Paramount Ranch series. I thought it was a straightforward 3D (third dimensional) film, but when I played it in slow motion I discovered a very sad Ghost Story from the Pioneer days in California, That would be 4D – the fourth dimension – the astral plane.

At the beginning of the video is a guest appearance by a Hummingbird fan of Robert Lee Frost, whose poem “The Road Not Taken” is included as a reference at the end of this post.

VIDEO BY ALICE

CONCLUSION

God bless you all
And keep you safe,
And be with you
Through all your days!

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Filmed on 3 July 2025 and published on 15 July 2025

VIDEO CREDITS

“Paramount Ranch 6: The Path Less Traveled ~ and ~ An Awfully Sad Ghost Story
~ with ~ Guest Appearance by Hummingbird!”

By Alice B. Clagett

Filmed on 3 July 2025 and produced on 15 July 2025
Location: Paramount Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains, CA

Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International –
By Alice B. Clagett

MORE INFORMATION

Link: “Halloween Special: Ghostly Hauntings, as Seen by the Intuitive,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 26 October 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-aCt ..

“The Road Not Taken”
Quite a Famous Poem by Robert Lee Frost (public domain)

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

“Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

“And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
More license information

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interspecies communication, birds, hummingbirds, poetry, ghost stories, multidimensionality, third dimension, fourth dimension, astral plane,

The Clink of a Reptile’s Toes . a fanciful poem by Alice B. Clagett

Dear Ones,

This poem is fictional in all regards, including, but not limited to characters, events and figures of speech. The place name is also fictional, and the names of people are added for poetic effect, not having to do with anything about their fictional lives …

The Clink of a Reptile’s Toes . a fanciful poem by Alice B. Clagett

Drawing: “Astral Reptilian: Lizard Man 2,” by Alice B. Clagett, 27 May 2021 CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com… Drawn after a sculpture for which I have no attribution.

Drawing: “Astral Reptilian: Lizard Man 2,” by Alice B. Clagett, 27 May 2021 CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com… Drawn after a sculpture for which I have no attribution.

To turn off the background music that runs when this page starts, click once or twice on the arrow on the audio bar at the bottom of the page …

“THE CLINK OF A REPTILE’S TOES”
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
Soundtrack and Words
11 February 2018

 

There was a fellow in Desperadoville
Who loved to kill for a sexual thrill

A wise guy stopped by who said, “My gosh …
You make your kills with swashbuckling panache!

“I have one request … ‘Cause
These kills make such messes …
Once monthly, finesse this  …

“Then say goodbye
To the townspeople’s sighs,
To their nightmares and cries …
Go and give it a try!”

So he tried this advice,
And at first it seemed nice

But the beat of his heart
Did a Humphrey Bogart
When he practiced that art

And, quick as Jack Robinson,
He ditched that lesson

Day after day, began
Once more rampagin’

One night, drinking liquor,
This hard hitter figured:
“The trouble’s your ticker!

“It’s too fast a racer
I’ll put a pacemaker
Inside it. Then killin’
Won’t be so thrillin’

“Cause when I think ‘hatchets’
My heart just won’t ratchet
Up, due to this gadget.”

So he found a doctor
To make up an order
To purchase the gizmo
To KO his MO

A life of crime
Don’t stop on a dime
It worked for a time

Then the day arrived
When he contrived

A vast panorama …
A homicide drama …

That went off as expected
For he fled, undetected
And savored the deed with espresso

This is far from the norm
He surmised, all forlorn …
My heart didn’t vet the crescendo

He moped for a while
Though it wasn’t his style …

“I’ll have to make hay
In a cold-blooded way,”
He declared: “Easy come, easy go!”

–a fanciful poem by Alice B. Clagett
11 February 2018

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Written and published on 11 February 2018; revised on 2 July 2026
Added poem to: Tiny Anthologies: Wild West Poems

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MORE INFORMATION

Video: “Play It Again Sam, Casablanca, AS TIME GOES BY,” a 1941 movie … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plSKtjfSjrA&t=2s ..

Video: “Casablanca – Rick’s ‘play it again Sam'” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAlzmRjixr0 ..

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
More license information

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poems, poems by Alice, desperadoes, crime, pacemakers, physical form heresy, religion, poetry, American poetry, American poets, religion, heresies, reptilian mind, reptile brain, antisocial personality, psychology, psychiatry, law enforcement, outlaws, Wild West, drawings by Alice,

The Last Time We Passed On . a poem by Alice B. Clagett

Written on 18 February 2012;  published on 22 December 2018; republished on 26 November 2020
This poem has been excerpted to “My Memories of Other Incarnations.”

  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
    • “The Last Time We Passed On,” a Poem by Alice B. Clagett, Soundtrack and Words

Dear Ones,

Here is a poem about reincarnation. There is a Summary after the video …

VIDEO BY ALICE

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

“The Last Time We Passed On”
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
Soundtrack and Words
18 February 2012

 

What if we remembered
the last time we passed on?
That moment
of wild, sweet surrender!

That would be the end of the play, wouldn’t it?
The jig would be up.
Divine Ma would be our every thought.
So, then, why stick around?

To hear her laughter in the breeze,
tickling the trees;

in the tiny pop
of waves’ farewell bubbles,
stranded on the shore;

in the bliss of birds’
“good morning” to the day;

in the soft footfalls
of a cat, from room to room;

in the joyful abrogation
of the space between the words,
and the space between the worlds
within us.

Image: “Beseeching,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

Image: “Beseeching,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

. . . . .

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

This blog is included in … Link: “Tiny Anthologies: Incarnational Memories,” by Alice B. Clagett, compiled from prior blogs on 10 February 2019; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-bCE ..

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
More license information

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adventures with Alice, visions by Alice, poems by Alice, poetry, Chalice-Crucible, incarnations,

Song for a Summer Day . a poem by Alice B. Clagett

  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • SUMMARY OF THE POEM
    • “Song for a Summer Day,” a Poem by Alice B. Clagett, Soundtrack and Words
    • Postlude: Music of Chris Zabriskie and Scenes from Pastorius Reservoir

Dear Ones,

I went for a drive from Los Angeles to Grass Valley in the spring of 2001, and on the way home, this poem was born. The title of the poem is “Song for a Summer Day.” It is about true love … not the kind we read about in novels, but the love from which we sprang, and to which each of us longs to return.

Here is the spoken poem. There is a Summary after the video …

VIDEO BY ALICE

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

Hello, Dear Ones, It’s Alice.

This is the last in my current series of poems that I wrote myself a while back. This one is called “Song for a Summer Day.” I wrote it on the drive from Los Angeles to Grass Valley, in California. It was a beautiful drive.

. . . . .
“Song for a Summer Day”
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
Soundtrack and Words
May 2001

 

These sun-drenched California hills
. . . . knead me like dough,
. . . . bake me in the noonday sun,
. . . . and eat me for lunch.

Not a bad way to go …

I’d like to live on a road
. . . . with a sign at the entrance:
. . . . NO THROUGH STREET.

Let it have rolling hills
. . . . live oaks marking a fence line
. . . . horses grazing the wild oats
. . . . . . . . riding the backs of the meadows
. . . . . . . . tawnily
. . . . . . . . like a lion’s sleek fur

Let it have bird call
. . . . and response
. . . . . . . . cricket chirp
. . . . and a cricket answering
. . . . . . . . heart song
. . . . as the wind loves to touch
. . . . the leaves of the oak tree
. . . . . . . . love’s song
. . . . like the brook that whispers to the passing shore:
. . . . “Drink, drink! Freely I give to thee.”

Love does not forget the other,
. . . . the different one, loved for its difference
. . . . the dry one, loved for a chance to bring it water
. . . . the green one, loved for its greenness
. . . . the formless one, loved for its touch alone
. . . . and all those who long for another,
. . . . . . . . loved for their longing

Love is, and what is not
. . . . are this tree,
. . . . this golden field,
. . . . the rolling warble of a summer day
. . . . . . . . in California

The length and breadth and depth of life
. . . . are not here,
. . . . but hidden away, like a summer day
. . . . . . . . on a forgotten country road
. . . . nourished by a stream that never runs dry,
. . . . . . . . not even in summer.

Postlude: Music of Chris Zabriskie and Scenes from Pastorius Reservoir

[The Postlude features the soothing instrumental music  “Prelude No. 1” from the album “Preludes” by Chris Zabriskie, CC BY 4.0, and scenes from Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, Colorado

Image: “Rolling Hills and California Oaks,” effected, by Alice B. Clagett, 2001, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com …

Image: “Rolling Hills and California Oaks,” effected, by Alice B. Clagett, 2001, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com …

. . . . .

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Written in May 2001; I indicated 1 May 2001 as the date of writing; filmed on 4 October 2014; published on 11 October 2014; republished on 20 December 2018 and 16 July 2020; revised on 10 March 2023
Location: Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, La Plata County, Colorado

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
More license information

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poetry, poems by Alice, Chris Zabriskie, my favorites, miscellanea,