Defence Department scientists are interested in a species of dung beetle that sees clearly in low light.

They hope to clone the fibres in their eyes.
Minds catch fire, files propagate, they see
those clones as means to ends. With means like these
the ends are endless. Think, an eye that lights
the night in snipers’ rifle-sights. They’ll need
a name to guarantee a funding, why
not “Project Drop Them in the Dark”? Breed
quickly friends, roll on, a species raised
from trundling dung to blowing lives away
should spawn, be fertile, multiply its eyes.
We’ll need them in this twilight of our age.