"The Web" by Pierre Reverdy

Another delightful little piece from The Yale Anthology of French Poetry:

The Web

   A hand, with a rhythmic and thoughtless motion,
was throwing its five fingers up towards the ceiling
where fantastic shadows were dancing.
   A hand detached from its arm, a free hand,
illumined from below by the glow of the hearth--
and that innocent empty head smiling at the spider
setting forth in the night its useless masterpiece.

[Translated by Mary Ann Caws and Patricia Terry]

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