Goat

Caught a faint trace of smell upstream

crossing the creek in a narrow bend

stepping on humpbacked rocks

Followed it

and further down it became clearer:

the smell of Death

Tracked it down: goat

dead in the riverbed, maybe a day only, rather two

eyes open and pale, tongue sideways, slight movement in the belly

Maggots

Me-life observing life

turning Death into Life again

Stench of scavenge for its own right

We all sit together at the table...or under it

activities...of the Universe

Hail to the great sacred humongous digestion

Left upstream again

of course...

took smell, image, recognition and life with me