If you’ve looked at a line of ants marching across your kitchen counter and wondered if they were boys or girls, you were right if you decided on girls. Most ant colonies need far more females than males for the basic reason that females do all the work.
*****
In my way to the bathroom
When my nature called,
I marked at once a small ant
Biting a bit she rolled.
Weary of my studies
On the Worlds New and Old,
I wanted to ask her questions
That in my mind had boiled:
Does she like me alone wonder
Why ladies live too long,
While in numerous examples
It’s men that have the fun?
Does she resent the wealth of
The she-ant next door,
While she is the working class;
Abhorred by all and poor?
Does she also envy that girl
Who has a multisome,
While she can’t find a boy
A sec to make her numb?
Might she be a better girl;
With much nobler wants.
She might be reading poetry
As on six feet she hunts.
Might she be suspicious of
The creed of Abraham,
And wonder why her God’s son
Was born in Bethlehem.
She might find Eden an illusion,
Eve-ant a story,
Designed to make her endure
Her long-life misery.
She should think of enlightenment
Or franchise for workers.
Might she follow women’s rights
Angry that no-one cares.
She may dream of Northest Lands
Where no queen breeds,
And freedom for a short time
Would be the life she leads.
