Turkey Vultures

Huge spectral presences

Rest heavily on barren trees

Blacker than our blackest thoughts

They gather in flocks with surreal ease.

Disturbed by my sudden steps

Silently they take to flight.

They have come to watch the songbirds feed,

These dark grotesques of heaven's night.

And yet my soul untroubled sees

Beauty in their obscenity;

Repulsive to men, to God divine

Clearing the earth of life's debris.