A Spider Thread

Once
The Buddha
awakened
to a man
hidden and defiled
in the depths of
the Sixth Realm, in
Hell.

He squirmed
and was tortured.
An arsonist and a
thief, he was in the company
of others like him.

The Buddha
awakened to a moment
in the Thief's life
when the man almost
squashed a spider
upon seeing it,
but spared the Spider's life
because it was
like his own.

The Buddha knowing this, he
lowered a spider thread
down into
the Depths of Hell
and the Thief found it.

He found it strong enough
to hold his weight, and
he even found himself
able enough
to begin to pull
and climb
his way out from the depths.

As the Thief began to
glimpse the Buddha Above
he turned and looked down
and saw many others
climbing the thread out of hell.

The Thief shouted
"NO! This is MY thread!"

And it snapped
and he plummeted
back
into Hell.