The Monomyth

On her web, my daughter’s four legs creep
until her spider belly meets the challenge 
of a single rope, a wishbone in reverse, 
and out the grasping hands, the fetal pull,
to make the body snake and squirrel
across the full stop of the gap. And then, 
again, she knows herself, the patterned ladder, 
knows the circumvention of the mind, 
and how at end one must return, arms raised 
and praise demanded, to a human victory.