After a rain

the grass grows

green and lush

and ant beds pop up

like miniature cities

built on raised hills and

defended to the death

by armies of untold millions

we wage war

with poison

and aerial bombardment

everything we have

we throw at the enemy

but they are resilient

they have planned ahead

they have their underground bunkers

their secret network of tunnels

their stored provisions

we think foolishly we have won the war

but the ant armies survive

they hunker down

they lie in wait

they move surreptitiously

in darkness

they wait for the next rain

when they will attack again 

evermore determined

in their battle for conquest

they have the perfect system

they have patience

conspiring for victory

for human domination

it is just a matter of time

we will lose this war of wills

and become the skeletons

some geologist of the future

will find and wonder at

buried in the sands of time

the remnants of a lost civilization.