if we spoke the language of Solomon

an ant warned, “O ants! Go quickly into your homes so Solomon and his armies do not crush you, unknowingly.” (Chapter 27, The Ant, Verse 18- Holy Qur’an)

my daughter picks a piece of bread smothered
in glistening honey and waves it from her high chair,
tantalizing the tiny, shiny dots of bodies crawling near
kitchen crevices. in a split second,
she tosses the sugary glob on the floor and claps.

     ants possess a powerful sense of smell, tracking whiffs
     of food from several meters away, so keen
     that doctors are training them to sniff out cancer.
     just imagine their tiny antennas scraping together,
     the friction of it squeaking to deliver a diagnosis.

within minutes there is a clump of black tapping
near the doughy goodness. in the far corner, stragglers
scamper. I wonder how far from home have they crawled
and how many will it take to lift this syrupy lump?

     formicidae can carry ten to fifty times their weight.
     they pitter-patter, laying a pheromone trail behind,
     a path for others pointing straight to the food source.

     another kind of pheromone trail is released to signal
     threat, alarming the colony of danger. was it this
     doomful communication Solomon understood?

a scout has gotten stuck and drowned in sticky gold.
it is the silent certainty of this world; some will be carted off
to their graves and others will wobble away, bellies full.

     once the stench of death is detected, worker ants
     will be sent out to carry the corpse near the lip
     of the nest. they will prepare for burial, first leaving
     the body out for two days so the community can pay
     their respects, honoring their comrade collectively.

Solomon and his army rode through clouds
like chariots. but upon hearing the plea of ants
cut through the divine decree,
changed their course. the colony celebrates
another day.
my daughter’s grubby hands too, nudged
through decree, let the ants crawl another day.