Cremation is a waste of human flesh
much better fed to worm or dog or bird.
True, ashes fertilise the soil if spread
but, potted, nourish nothing, set absurd
upon a mantelpiece as monument
to man's withdrawal from the natural scheme
of birth, life, death, re-use in other life
in favour of the life eternal dream.
Is man so valuable his flabby flesh
is thought too good for other creatures' use?
Such vanity in a species guilty of
exterminating others without excuse !
I'd choose sky burial with my flesh and bones
served to the lammergeiers as final boon
and fly in those birds' bellies through the sky
between the mountains and the keening moon.