"the vulture smiles"

In the desert bleak and bland
Creatures live without water
And an occasional oasis seems a treasure
To those who dwell in the sand

A trip I took once down an unmarked road
Ended and began in solitude
But the simplicity of barren land
Is intriguing enough to avoid conversation

The things to observe and notice come in abundance
Just like the trees of an orchard
Yet life alone so scarce and infrequent
But one occurrence remains almost untainted in my mind

Two winged creatures
One so bold and the other so homely
One so beautiful and the other so timid
One lifeless and the other a scavenger

So strange and out of place was the eagle
How could one not stop and watch
No matter how gruesome my eyes were attached
Feather, muscle, blood, strewn about

Vultures scavenge
But vultures eat those motionless
And still, my eyes remained attached
And even more puzzling

The vulture over the eagle
Almost as evil triumphs over good
Tearing and shredding
Hesitation a thing of imagination

As the stomach reaches full
This vulture turns to me
Its whole body turned in my direction
And stares

Almost ten minutes pass
As this creature gazes
I step forward and it remains
I scream and it remains

Nothing fazes victorious animals
Nothing so simple at least
Create a threatening situation
It fails

Its patience is all too relentless
And my heart is beating all too fast
Drops of sweat fall from the tips of my bangs
And fall to the dry, dead land

I’m ready to turn away now
But the vulture is not
So I stay, continually motionless
It stays, continually confident

Heat and dehydration
My eyes were playing tricks on me
The vulture, he smiles
He spreads his wings, and he flies away

The eagle is dead
The vulture has won
I am alone
And this desert is done