Where Elephants Go

Where Elephants Go

I know where elephants go
To die.

They go alone
Leaving the herd behind
Tears mudding their faces
Layered in caked grime
Flies tormenting them
They move slowly
Deliberately
Trunks and ears swaying
To an fading drumbeat.

They stumble into high grasses
Falling onto something soft
Something cool
Something to surround them
Providing a bit of privacy
And there
All alone
They close their eyes to die.

I know where elephants
Go to die
Because I have been there.

Some elephants desire death
As a release
As a kind of mitigation
As a kind of payment for transgression.

A few return
Death being delayed
Though they fervently desired it.
For these few
Judgment decrees life continue.

Where elephants go
To die
Is less a mystery
Than where elephants go
To live.