Moments of Fear

People tickle my neck, taunting me,
They feel that my fear is funny
I cannot help it when I see....
those hairy legs, and the beady eyes.

AH! just the idea makes me wince.

A spider crawls into my view,
Shrieks and squeals extend past my neighbors house.
I cannot pass it, I cannot ignore it.
There is some force preventing me from moving forward.

My dad won't kill it, he says I should be braver.
My mom won't kill it, she tells me to get it with the vacuum.
(But won't it just crawl back out?)

I eventually resort to having my younger sister smush it,
And, not throw it in the garbage, but flush it.
Just cover the possiblity that she didn't kill it.

People tell me they aren't scary,
Often I nervously laugh and then throw in my usual,
"Good joke!"

People don't understand why one can be scared of such a small, harmless thing.
Yes, it's true, spiders are small, and yes, usually they are harmless.
But most people, not all, but most don't have a real reason,
Or at least no reason better than mine, behind their fear.

It's just there.