The Vultures (A Dark Poem)

The Vulture
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 ~~

Comments

13 responses to “The Vultures (A Dark Poem)”

  1. Wild Heart Scribe Avatar

    I thoroughly enjoyed this piece!

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      Thank you so much.

      1. Wild Heart Scribe Avatar

        :)

  2. WB Avatar

    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.

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      Thank you WB, I really enjoy writing darker pieces, for just that reason, I enjoy the story.

  3. petitemagique Avatar

    Love it! Beautifully written. Dark, but strong. I like that.
    (I also like Vultures) :)

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      I really like them too, they are an important part of the cycle of life, thank you very much.

  4. words4jp Avatar

    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)

    The Merci Series Part II

    Thanks – Kimberly

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      Thank you Kimberly and thank you for the nomination, I really do appreciate it. :)

  5. RoSy Avatar

    This just about summed it up.
    “My family will remember me as I was not as I am”
    So true!

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      Thank you RoSy, I hope that mine remembers me this way as well.

  6. Mary Strong-Spaid Avatar

    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.

    1. blackandwrite Avatar

      Yes they can be rather ugly and their job in the life cycle is somewhat gruesome, but it is important as well.

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