<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">Vulture</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">I had walked since dawn and lay down to rest on a bare</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">hillside</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Above the ocean. I saw through half-shut eyelids a</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">vulture wheeling</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> high up in heaven,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">And presently it passed again, but lower and nearer,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">its orbit</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> narrowing,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> I understood then</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">That I was under inspection. I lay death-still and</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">heard the flight-</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> feathers</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Whistle above me and make their circle and come</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">nearer.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">I could see the naked red head between the great wings</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Bear downward staring. I said, "My dear bird, we are</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">wasting time</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> here.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">These old bones will still work; they are not for</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">you." But how</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> beautiful</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> he looked, gliding down</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">On those great sails; how beautiful he looked, veering</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">away in the</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> sea-light</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> over the precipice. I tell you solemnly</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">That I was sorry to have disappointed him. To be eaten</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">by that beak</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> and</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> become part of him, to share those wings and</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">those eyes--</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">What a sublime end of one's body, what and enskyment;</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">what a life</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> after death.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Robinson Jeffers</div><div class="">
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