There was an unusual stillness as I approached the doves cage this morning. [View all]

One of my flock was near death. She was sitting alone in the shelter of a wicker bridge.

Late yesterday afternoon she was puffed out as if she was cold. I turned up the oil heater that sits on the floor near them.

She was one of the ones that always came close to me as I sat sipping coffee from before dawn into late evenings. A beautiful dusky brown with small orange rings around her sweet brown eyes.

I gently lifted her from her resting spot and cuddled her to the warmth of my chest. We sat like that for a brief time until she passed quietly away, as beautiful in death as she was in life.

I was blessed by her love, her beauty and her song. I watched her enter my world a few years ago. I'm glad I was able to hold her so that she did not die alone.

The flock has returned to life as usual.