Viral Cooperation

If you can move on,
If you’ve figured out
That much, then you need

Your host kept alive
Long enough for you
To move on. That takes

Teamwork. Nobody
Eats up everything.
Nobody explodes

Reproductively.
The balance must hold
Until you’re ready

To leave a dead host.
Cooperation,
However, doesn’t

Emerge bottom up,
And it isn’t ruled
From top down either.

It comes from outside,
Impressed upon you.
Some of you will race,

And some will explode,
And some will just cheat
And provoke the host.

The balance that wins
Rules enough of you
Lose optimal ways

To maximize odds
That the host survives
Long enough to pass

The selected mess
Of all of you on
To next host in line.

So some of you strive,
And some of you cheat,
And some sacrifice

But the kinds of you
Thrive, since enough hosts
Survive to provide.

As for the planet,
The host of your ghosts,
Who knows where that goes?