I sit silently beneath a burning sun, along a buzzing wire, my fellow meditators to my left and to my right.

Far below us, as if in an untamable fury, machines roar past; for there is no tomorrow in their world, and only endless speed can cure this.

Someone at the far end shifts, as do we all, as is our nature, as though a ripple is a puddle.

Discomfort takes him from his perch; he spreads his wings, and soars down to a lower wire-across the frying black path.

We follow, one by one, some in twos, until the whole of us has reunited again.

There are no shadows over here, the heat causes me to sweat, to itch. I preen myself, scraping the hot moisture from my tar body.

To my left and to my right, the rest begin the same.

Old, loose feathers fall, float, twist and turn to the ground from the wire. They drift and spin and fly as though they have their own minds.

A creature, a cat, sees our sheddings and begins to play, leaping up to catch them with his razor claws.

We see this, and one by one, two by two, we stop to cast reproachful eyes, hundreds, at the foolish furry predator.

As one last feather floats to the ground, landing on the black path, the creature pounces forward, as though on prey, to trap it between its paws.

Unawares, the creature does not see, or is not prepared, for the speeding machine that violently whips around the corner and toward him.

Too late, we see, the cat looks up in shock and terror as the monster bears down upon him, crushing his fragile body to the path.

We have waited for this, as we always do, and the stillness as the machine continues on is serene.

Then, our wait rewarded, I let lose one solitary ‘cah! raa-ah!’ and swoop down to meet the lifeless carcass.

As one, my fellows follow me, landing and shifting in unison, as we circle the creature; feast.

When all that remains of the once living thing are pale, still-moist bones, tufts of fur and a solitary, dark stain, we move again.

Stretching, beating the air, we glide to the wire in the shadow.

There, we sit, wait silently, for someone to become restless and fly away.