Plague Spreads

crows feeding loudly in maiden hay field in the noon sun such a dark sound these creatures such a ancient place they call to in the heart 'no good has ever come from this' he recites to his unhearing heart as he moves into the field seeking the towering oak tree in the far corner along the broken teeth of the field-stone wall seeking the solace of the cool shade and this feast of crows he must scatter he must reap now that the devil has sown must gather unto god what man cast down in this dark place this noon day sun of perils this godless place with its murder of crows he shouts a prayer as he treads near the tree to scatter these spawn of darkness they take to wing there in the shadows he finds the mans corpse the plague had claimed him madness of its fever had lead him here so here he will be buried by the village priest taking up the shovel he digs a rough narrow hole and covers the corpse carrying the shovel and the plague back to his village so it came to this quiet european town so the black death spreads so the plague destroyed europe