Bull Ants — II

It is true that the head of an ant does not represent its capital in the same way as our heads do, and that decapitation need not always imply death. Dr C. P. Haskins mentions an ant which carried on a fairly normal life for forty days without its head, but he does not suggest that this was a good thing for it, or that such a mode could be encouraged and developed. In a battle, a complete ant may be seen engaged in combat with a number of still ferocious heads, but those heads have no future.
John Stewart Collis, The Worm Forgives the Plough
Let's anthropomorphise.
Forty days, or forty years,
without a head—it's normal,
it can be done.
This may not be
a good thing, according to some,
but so what? Survival's
the point, isn't it?
Still better—if you had
the choice—a head without
a body: you could argue in pubs
then knock someone's block off.
Next, you could get enlisted
and do the same en masse,
while the body stayed at home
soaking in the war on TV.
You don't need a head connected
to shoulders for any of that.
And if you go down fighting,
you'll be remembered by your mates:
Old Bulldog, he was a rum 'un!—
oh how they'll roar it, as,
with or without heads,
they down the toast.