Vulture

I had walked since dawn and lay down to rest on a bare
        hillside.
Above the ocean. I saw through half-shut eyelids a vul-
        ture wheeling high up in heaven,
And presently it passed again, but lower and nearer, its
        orbit narrowing, I understood then
That I was under inspection. I lay death-still and heard
        the light feathers
Whistle above me and make their circle and come
        nearer.
I could see the naked red head between the great wings
Bear downward staring. I said, “My dear bird, we are
        wasting time here.
These old bones will still work, they are not for you.”
But how beautiful he looked, gliding down
On those great sails; how beautiful he looked veering
        away in the sea-light over the precipice. I tell you
        solemnly
That I was sorry to have disappointed him. To be eaten
        by that beak and become a part of him, to share those
        wings and those eyes—
What sublime end of one’s body, what enskyment;
        What a life after death.



~Robinson Jeffers~