Look as you step

Black ants are gathering short, crooked stems

while an architect ant directs the work

with the patience of ten million sunsets

or the movement of a glacier ten miles,

as countless moons parade the firmament—

that network of twinkling dots and dashes

to which not all ants pay slight attention.

Their future structure of twigs, clay, and mud

will be guarded by those who own the earth

far longer than irrelevant mammals

who disappear into the loam they work.

Ants remain content to work, build, and fight

for their survival, having no pretense

of proud ambition. They will outlast us.