In One of My Lives, I Became A Drone

so I asked the queen ant: “before
I mate with your young queen, may I
at least have the indulgence of
mating with all of the female
ants here, since I’m the last male
today and they probably need me?”

And the queen ant said, “it is use-
less, you only mate to be useful.
That’s why you die after mating.
If we let you live, oh you’ll work,
but you have emotions, and reason,
and that is all useless vs.

Vicente I. Soria De Veyra’s poem “In One of My Lives, I Became a Drone” first appeared in the Philippines Graphic on August 12, 1994. Taken from the Graphic Archive.