City Under Attack!

Their city is located on the edge
of a hostile territory
filled with bitter enemies.
They must maintain constant vigilance,
must remain on permanent alert,
for danger is all around them.
Suddenly, the alarm is sounded.
The enemy is at their gate,
plundering and destroying.
The soldiers boil out of the city,
aroused, eager to fight and die
in defense of their primitive society
against the more sophisticated weaponry
of the superior force attacking them,
intent upon their complete annihilation.
These comrades in arms meet death…
they die by the tens, by the hundreds,
by the thousands, by the tens of thousands –
mangled bodies piling upon mangled bodies,
as each new wave of soldiers pouring forth
encounters toxic chemicals filling the air,
causing their bodies to writhe and wilt.
Still, they never hesitate, never question,
as they keep advancing to engage the enemy.
Each does his duty…and dies.
While the enemy may win this battle,
he shall never defeat them.
They cannot be beaten.
The colony will survive, will thrive,
for these soldiers belong
to that uncontrollable spreading horde
of fire ants.


Harry Edward Gilleland      09.27.04    printer friendly