The author of the Bagle worm apparently has a softer side, security experts said Tuesday as their analysis uncovered -- believe it or not -- a poem embedded in most recent variant, which went wild on Monday.

Bagle.z -- but dubbed Bagle.w by some -- spread quickly enough Monday to cause most anti-virus firms to bump up their threat levels to "medium" or the equivalent, but it didn't seem to be spreading as fast Tuesday, said Craig Schmulgar with Network Associate's AVERT team.

"Unlike the Netskys, Bagles have tended to die out pretty quickly," said Schmulgar. "We're already seeing a decrease in numbers from yesterday."

By Gregg Keizer at Internet Week.

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