Don’t worry, people;
So far it’s not a threat
To human beings; I mean,
It hasn’t attacked us YET.
 
You think that we have problems?
Ants have problems, too.
For us, bacteria and viruses
Seem to come out of the blue.
 
In Brazil a zombie ant fungus
Affects carpenter ants.
When the hosts are infected,
They climb up nearby plants,
 
Leaving their homes and colonies.
It’s hard to understand why,
But they clutch onto the leaves
And hang there waiting to die.
 
After their death a stalk
Grows from their body, and so
Spores from that fungus
Infect the ants down below.
 
The cycle then continues.
Don’t you wonder whether
The ants could figure it out?—
Put 2 and 2 together?
 
When ants are hanging from leaves,
The other ones shouldn't neglect them.
Their failure to address the matter
Will fatally affect them.
 
For all of us creatures on earth,
When everything seems A-OK,
Nature seems to manage
To throw a curve ball our way.
 
We have our own worries—
Both natural and man-made
Issues that we should confront,
And not ignore or evade.

- by Bob B