The Attack of the Zombie Fungus

Don’t worry, people;

So far it’s not a threat

To human beings; I mean,

It hasn’t attacked us YET.

 

So 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,

Other ants 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.

(8-30-14)

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

Wonderful poem. I love the way you weave your moral from beginning to end, only pausing to clearly define it in the summary stanza.