In Praise of Termites
The termite culture's rich and vast, more so, sometimes, than humankind, with martyrs and mujahideen, and projects ponderous yet precise, and back-up plans, a hundredfold. How do they do it? Society is based on caste, with tasks and territory assigned by social rank. Some watch, some wean, some whittle, weave, ward off, entice, while food for all is fairly doled. How do they do it? Their architecture's unsurpassed, with geodesic shapes, designed with opulence almost obscene, and altruists. Self-sacrifice is common. And they mine for gold! How do they do it? Hardly least and never last, over her subjects (all of them blind) there reigns a massive, fertile queen, releasing pheromones (how nice!) She lives to forty-five years old! How do they do it?
— Michael Coy