Walt Whitman--Internet Bard and Prophet?

Several days ago I had spent two or three hours working on a post for Fred's Place, answering email, and searching for some information when the following poem by Whitman suddenly popped into my head. It was an old favorite of mine, but one I hadn't thought of for at least a year or two, or more. It seemed somehow to fit what I had been doing for the past few hours--sending out queries into cyberspace.

What do you think?

Does it fit?

Is there one that you occasionally think of while on the Net?

Or any similar experience?




A Noiseless Patient Spider

A NOISELESS patient spider,

I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

- Walt Whitman -