Summary

The speaker insists on continuing to live despite his looming mortality, which he describes as the "brink" and a "florid, deep sleep" (1-2). Everything runs its course according to its own time. After prompting the reader to "look," the speaker points out how just that morning, a vulture acknowledged the speaker's presence by nodding his old grizzled head (3). In return, the speaker admired the vulture's curved beak. The vulture then took flight with the wind.

The speaker goes on to state that millions of "naturally occurring sweet things" exist in the world (13). These include agave, persimmon, stick ball, and purple okra. Even the names of these things make the speaker feel weak in the knees. Somewhat dismissively, the speaker lists out the concepts and experiences that coincide with death before continuing to catalog life's wonders. For the speaker, these include the sight of his...