WILLIAM SLAUGHTER

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SKY BURIAL


What does a man finally get
when he dies in Tibet?

Not fire,
unless he is a lama
whose monastery
has a source,
because wood is scarce,
and death has its own economy.

Not water,
unless he is a poor man
with nothing to offer,
because water is scarce,
but not so scarce as wood,
and death has its own economy.

What does a man finally get
when he dies in Tibet?

But air,
if the birds will have him.
One last meal
at which he is both host and guest,
a feast without ritual --
the mountainside, his table.

Or earth,
if the birds refuse him
because his bones,
however white and fine they are,
do not taste like tsampa --
not enough barley in them.

Until nothing of him remains
and death has its own economy.


© 1995, William Slaughter


William Slaughter’s Fulbright Scholarships have taken him to China and Egypt. He has taught at the Florida State University London Study Center and currently is a professor at the University of North Florida. Untold Stories (Empty Bowl, Port Townsend, WA, 1990) is his most recent book of poems. His essays and other poetry have been published worldwide. US and Canadian credits include Poetry, Exquisite Corpse, Forum, and Critical.