To Repair Ruptures in the Trail

Ants and humans assiduously
Clear away extraneous debris.
Humans like to observe ants,

From childhood, in any land.
They find ants fascinating.
They try to figure them out.

They make up many stories.
They take many measurements.
Individually, most don’t

Learn that much about ants, but
Collectively, humans know
A lot of things about them,

How they forage using scents,
How they build their colonies,
How they evolve strategies.

Ants seem uninterested
In humans, altogether,
While making good use of them

As sources of resources.
Will there ever be an ant
As adapted to humans

As head lice are, or fungi?
Or will the ants stay siloed
Within their social ant worlds,

Parallel to humans, less
Nuisances than termites, less
Useful than the honeybees?

A child on the trail pauses
To scrutinize lines of ants
Intent on maintaining links.