Afterlife
April 24 2024
They picked the carcass clean;
from fresh meat
down to bone
in less than half an hour.
No reverence
no service of remembrance,
but a wake of vultures
swarming a kill
with fierce efficiency.
And in flight, a kettle
circling high overhead,
peering down
with keen avian eyes
for their next expired meal.
But this group of vultures
have settled on the branches
of a stately tree;
a committee of birds
too gorged to fly,
soaking up the sun
wings spread wide.
They are not beautiful, by any means.
But then, the world was not intended
to please human beings,
our aesthetic sense
of how things should be.
Instead, these useful creatures serve.
Their wakes are not sad affairs
of condolences and tears;
they’re a celebration of life,
with drinks all around
and toasts to the departed.
Like Irishmen
who know how to party,
accept the fact of death
and believe in an afterlife,
giving a send-off
to one of their own.
A fight may break out
there will be songs,
the buffet
will be stripped clean.
But with vultures, unlike their counterparts
there is no Irish blarney
no gift of the gab;
no tributes
or pious speeches,
no inside jokes
or witty repartee.
It’s what they do
as eaters of carrion
that is their eulogy;
that in the cycle of life
the only chance of any hereafter
are the gleaners of death.
I was listening to a fascinating podcast (link below) about the devastating loss of vultures in India due to the toxic effects of common drugs. The story was told in the context of Zoroastrian funerary practices, but the loss of the ecological services of such an essential animal has widespread harms, not just in nature but in animal husbandry. So not only was I reminded of the importance of this often scorned creature, I also learned that there are 3 collective nouns for vultures, depending on what they do. As someone who takes delight in language, this proved irresistible!
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