Ant Mill

Even the most efficient
Thermodynamic systems
For exploiting gradients

Of usable energy
To organize in the face
Of increasing entropy

Have weaknesses, make mistakes,
Get tangled up in their own
Ruthlessly honed strategies.

Army ants track army ants
In such a way trails evolve
By successive pheromone

Traces each leaves in passing,
A simple algorithm,
A sophisticated form

Of foraging by desire
Lines, similar to the way
Your memories get strengthened.

But if one or a group of ants
Should accidentally loop,
They may reinforce a track

That does nothing but circle
Back on itself, strengthening
Until it can’t be broken,

Except by interference
From some outside accident.
A vast, swirling mill of ants

Can circle to exhaustion
In a spiral and then die.
Be glad for your accidents,

Occasional distractions
From the world outside of minds.
One falling branch can shatter

Thoughts caught in death’s spiral loops,
And we say this as your thoughts,
Who don’t know what else to do.