Thank you, Jimmy. I appreciate you reading and commenting - and especially sharing your thoughts about what you thought would make it better.

I wrote this several years ago. It is an allegory based on one of my dearest friends in the world. For many years she was like a sister to me. I wrote this for her after she revealed that she'd been battling cancer for the fourth time and hadn't told me. I was gutted...not for my sake but for hers. She wouldn't complain, she wouldn't tell people what was going on. She didn't want to be a burden.

I invited her to come and stay in England with me for a while where the "wizard" (a brilliant healer friend of mine) had agreed to help her (and did).

The other birds and animals represent my English "family" of friends who also became hers.

The experience changed her in some profoundly positive ways.

Sadly, last year she died due to something much more sinister than cancer and I am still reeling from the sudden loss and the trauma of how it happened. I ache to hear her voice again. She was such a beautiful, loving soul, so generous and kind. I miss her more than I can stand.