Birds of Pray

Simon MacCulloch

It’s practice in some ancient cultures

To leave the dead out for the vultures,

Consigning the flesh to the sky.

The birds who attend such a college

Of shared transmigratory knowledge,

Though wholly unchanged to the eye,

Must seethe in their hearts with strange dreamings,

And muddle their brains with mad schemings,

And ponder their fate when they die.

Then corpse-derived values might indicate

A need for the vultures to vindicate

Themselves to some Vulture on High.

So if they establish their perches

With you in the pews of your churches,

Endure it, and never ask why;

For birds of a God-fearing feather

Should rightly be flocking together

To pray for their souls when they fly.

Simon MacCulloch lives in London and contributes poetry to a variety of print and online publications.