The Death of the Peacocks

The national bird of India is faced with a serious threat.

The India Express

The people lust, as people
always do, for gaudy gifts
of heaven, sweet meat
the blood has just left.

They lure the birds, a trail
of poisoned grain. When
the journey is over, so is
life, the peacocks plump,

sated, still. Such vanity.
Ostentation trembling
in variable wind, we eat away
the day until, slowing,

heavy in the gut, night
coming on, we arrive in time
for the feast of a lifetime,
the dark village of oblivion.