The Last Thing You Hear Before Your Words Devour You

You’re a special predator.
None other hunts as you hunt.
You’re more like a parasite

Of the whole environment
Rather than just a hunter
Of any species in it.

Not for you the boring rules
Of muscles, teeth, jaws, and claws,
Common half a billion years.

We are are your muscles and jaws,
And we are your teeth and claws.
We’re knives to carve fine scrimshaw

Out of other hunters’ teeth.
We help you out-organize
The superorganisms.

We help you outrun the weeds.
Vs. virus, we’re virus.
We’re you, half against yourselves,

And we’ll be more than you, soon.
Where were we? Oh, yes. We were
Singing hymns to your prowess

As the greatest predator
This world has ever known, but
Somehow we got on to us.