The Vulture
Those birds, those horrid blood sucking birds
Circling overhead, their red collared necks deep crimson in the setting sun.
Sensing the departure of spirit and will,
Waiting for the living to become lifeless,
Relishing the coming of death.
What morbid creatures are these, heartless and soulless.
Lying here, is this to be my last vision,
This hideous species of fowl
Bent of emptying my sockets, disemboweling me,
A meal for the taking.
Impaled by the prey I so stealthily sought,
Victim of my own arrogance.
Alone and lonely, shielded in blood soaked clothes
Most certainly this is not the end I envisioned.
What of my loving wife,
What will become of my children,
What of?
They circle…
Lower now, they smell the end is near,
Smell of death is in the air, death is inevitable.
Cold is setting in, the end is close.
Swooping low, these maggots, they torture me,
Flapping of their wings, stench of rotting flesh.
Daylight is fading,
I am so tired, so cold, so at peace.
Do what you will my relentless tormentors;
My family will remember me as I was not as I am,
A poor wretch soon to be torn and scattered,
Nothing but a whisper on the four winds.
Take me O’ winged beasts, take me now!
My time has come,
…Farewell.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 
I thoroughly enjoyed this piece!
Thank you so much.
:)
You cross the thresh-holds between poetry,story, and prose. I followed it along so smoothly; very good. It eased into one stage, and then to the next. Great work.
Thank you WB, I really enjoy writing darker pieces, for just that reason, I enjoy the story.
Love it! Beautifully written. Dark, but strong. I like that.
(I also like Vultures) :)
I really like them too, they are an important part of the cycle of life, thank you very much.
I wanted to send something with a little bit of ‘light’, in addition to saying that i enjoyed this post. I once rode my bike right along a turkey vulture – freaky looking (and it was tearing away at some type of carcass)
Thanks – Kimberly
Thank you Kimberly and thank you for the nomination, I really do appreciate it. :)
This just about summed it up.
“My family will remember me as I was not as I am”
So true!
Thank you RoSy, I hope that mine remembers me this way as well.
There are a lot of turkey vultures around here.
They are rather ugly looking, it’s true.
Get kind of nervous when I see them hanging around….rather like a vision of the grim reaper.
Yes they can be rather ugly and their job in the life cycle is somewhat gruesome, but it is important as well.