Contemporary Ants

 

The wisest man that ever lived

Was an astute observer,

While observing the ants at work

Here are somethings he discovered.

Shirkers they definitely were not

Everyone played its role,

They gathered their food in the summer

To preserve them when it became cold.

They had no boss or overseer

Each one knew what had to be done,

And surely as Solomon observed

Of shirkers, there were none.

My dear reader, you might be asking,

“But why the word contemporary?

Aren’t ants the same in every time?

Isn’t that somewhat silly?"

 

If you experience what I experience

Regarding these little creatures,

There is no way they could be the same

As those spoken of by the preacher.

These are not even like the ones

I remember when growing up,

They did not frequent anything clean

Neither plate nor glass nor cup.

They would enter the sugar jar

If it had the slightest opening

Or were there a crumb upon the floor

In their hundreds they would be threatening.

 

I now know for a fact

That contemporary ants are fond of water

For it doesn’t matter how many times you clean

They will gather on the counter.

The most that you find there

Are little droplets of water

So, I have come to the obvious conclusion

That this is what they are after.

They frequent the bathroom counter

And they crawl into the bath tub,

They appear to act in desperation

In their search for a little grub.

 

You find them in many places

That are not likely to have any food

So that while Solomon saw them as wise,

Contemporary ants are fools.

Solomon admonished the lazy

To observe the ant and be wise

But were Solomon around in this our time

These silly ants he would despise.

They are difficult to understand

And outside there are fewer nests,

I think they are angry at human beings

And are becoming indoor pests.

 

I consider them suicidal

Because they do not act with any sense,

I consistently kill many daily

And they do not put up any defense.

These are contemporary ants, I say,

And hence why they are behaving this way,

These are nothing like Solomon’s ants,

Nothing like the one’s in Solomon’s day.

Do you experience what I experience?

Or, are your ants the Solomon kind?

If so, you can send them across by me,

I will accept that kind anytime.

Stewart Russell © May 2020