Maggots and larvae crawl and writhe within the open wound of the deer carcass. The deer’s left eye is open in an unceasing gaze. A few inches in front of the eye, a toadstool grows. The pale red hue of the cap is pocked with characteristic white dots, resembling the open wound of the deer with it’s flecks of white larva. The open eye of the deer stares at the rapidly growing mushroom. An eternal gaze able to observe the ebb and flow of death. The cap of the shroom bolsters in size, flourishing, as the deer carcass molders and shrivels in decay. Death feeding life. A small fairy ring of fungus begins to appear, encircling the rotting corpse and the toadstool and on the deers empty skull stares. The grass rises and bends under its own weight, only for everything to puff away in the sudden flash of a forest fire. All that remains is a blackened deer skull staring at ash-sewn soil. The skull becomes buried, compressed, carbon layers squeezing, decay building pressure until…
Out of the deer's eye grows a green shoot. The first growth in the burnt out forest.
Death feeds life. So true.
That's a vicious and all-too-real circle. Great post, Keith.