Morning walk with Jeanne d'Arc

So I was taking a long walk through the neighborhood and on over to the next one east of here, heading to a boardwalk through a kindly preserved strip of woods between two housing developments. Scanning the skies for the last of the Turkey Vultures- it is November first and they depart for the winter about now- clear blue autumn sky with just a few contrails and cirrus clouds and I saw a column of black smoke rising to the north. My mind went flowing along the paths of smoke and wince it came- wood fires (illegal in town), house burning down (not enough smoke), Jeanne d'Arc burning at the stake, souls releasing into the sky.... Mind wandering... cherished photos, human souls, cloud of smoke, dark and beginning to hang in the sky, dispersing slowly. What is this fire, what is this smoke? Then I realized that I was due south of our new funeral home/crematory and oh my, it was souls flying into the ether.