Cicadas soothe unsuspecting folk to slumber and eight
hours later click them awake. Millions of males seek mates by manipulating
billions of drumskins at abdomen's base. The cadence this high-speed
vibration creates crosses kilometers in waves. Homoptera Cicadidae's
hypnotic stridulations luftwaffing human sleep, ubiquitous rhythm zips
minds closed by night, at dawn zooms wedge formation into brains, thus
free thought slips unmourned away by day. Insects' incessant throb enters
upward too, through the feet. Insistent timpanists strut a martial beat,
with goose-stepping efficiency whip throngs into shape. Individual impulse
gone, invidious irresistible itch to march in its place.
