The Diplomacy of Vultures

Cherry

By onemorething

Fri, 31 Jul 2020
  • 1681 reads
6 comments
 

Vultures speak nocturnal words

of rites in daylight, circle mortality,

they narrow the distance

between their own life and

a meal of death - they feast

in this slim gap. 

Branches are scored by sun

and talon as a demise is mulled over;

these sawbones flatter,

their watchful eyes caress a prospect,

hinged and cloaked

in waiting room. 
 

Vultures are not diplomatic,

but then there is little subtlety to dying. 

We like to say: he went quietly,

she slipped away, it was peaceful at the end,

and yet there were still vultures here, 

hooked and beaked for denature,

there were still vultures here,

marking time. 
 

And how will we be regarded when our own comes? 

As squatters of abandoned lives

to a beetle or a fly, perhaps, or

the promise of worms.

Better assemble our smiles,

look alive. 
 

Image is from wikimedia commons: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hooded_vulture_(Necrosyrtes_monachus).jpg

Image also on Twitter is from here too: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Courslmentai00miln_0401_Fig_238_Vulture.jpg

Certificate 15
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by littleditty on

- i found tiny vulture feathers im told, on the mead. Dont see them as often as pretty kites.. They are cool, now much more so in this poem, you made their lives come alive. Why do they have a bad name vibe esp in west is a human business - death, memory...feasting, some of us recycle! etc etc we share, now i wonder if vultures get nostalgic? Now must be pretty good for vulture a lot of the time - humans want to kill buzzards in festering dead animal pits in Scotland, so they can then kill grouse for hunters money. Humans! Great poem x

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks littleditty, am glad you like my raptor pondering. Yes, just recycling. The buzzards / grouse situation is grotesque, so distressing. Yeah, humans indeed, all the mindlessly cruel stuff that we do is just inexcusable. Thanks for reading it ld. x

 

Submitted by drew_gummerson on

Well, the sun is out, and now I have a chill in my bones. We are all for worms in the end. Great poem. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh, sorry about the chill. Think of it as poetic air conditioning. Yes, we are all worm food in the end. I'm sure the sun will warm your cockles again. Thanks for reading and the cherries.

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

They are magnificent birds and they provide a real service for all animals on Earth including us. We revile them for seaching out and eating dead and rotting flesh, but forget the amount of diseases they prevent by cleaning discarded carcasses.

Funny how we revile most vultures, but revere Condors which of course are also vultures.

Vultures in nature are far more honest than the human ones awaiting our deaths.

(I've got my eye on mine wink)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Ed. Am so glad you think so. They are magnificent, yes, and I like their honesty too. Sometimes I think it's the look of some species that people find off-putting as well as the carcass clearing, but I like them all, even the more acquired-taste looking ones. :) Thanks for reading it and your vulture-friendly thoughts. Rachel.