18 JANUARY 1963, Page 21

Important Insects

Important insects clamber to the top

Of stalks; look round with unenquiring eyes And find the world incomprehensible; Then totter back to earth and circumscribe Irregular territories pointlessly.

Some insects narcissistically assume Patterns of spots or stripes or burnished sheen For purposes of sex or camouflage, Some tweet or rasp, though most are without speech Except a mindless, low subliminal chatter.

Take heart: those scientists are wrong who find Elements of the human in their systems, Despite their busy, devious trafficking

Important insects simply do not matter.