I Envy Them In Their Spirals

I Envy Them In Their Spirals

I envy them in their spirals
To view the world as they see it
If not pleasing, at least wide
As they tilt themselves inward
In ever-closing arcs
They bend toward earth
Some long highway in the hot afternoon
Draws them
Where life has been given up
Or taken by these alien predators
That take nothing from the carcass


I read somewhere
That there are more of them now than ever before


Those who watch them
Come down to feed
Many times – for there is always plenty
So they descend
And totter toward dead things
And feed
With their obscene heads that dig and jerk
And beaks that tear like primitive knives
And leave only bones at their slow, final ascent


A woman who captured pandas once told me
That there are some people
In distant regions of China
Or Tibet
That leave their dead for them
Willingly,
In a holy place
So they may rise quickly
With them
In ever-widening arcs
Past our knowing.