Changing Skies

The sun sat low in the western sky. Lil waddled across the rocks until she stood at the edge of the cliff and scanned the horizon for her husband.

“Where are you Old Boy?” She muttered.

It was the change of seasons. Days were shorter and the nights were colder. Loop and Lil would join the others soon and head to warmer climates as they’d done every year, but this was the first year that Lil feared she’d be making the trip alone. Loop had left the nest the prior morning with plans to forage for food while Lil held down the home front.

“Come on Old Boy,” she insisted. “Come home to me”.

Lil paced the cold granite ledge, her old feet knew the cracks and crags well. Oh, sure, she stumbled from time to time. While the seasons had been good to Loop and Lil, they were still just that....seasons. A bit more grey upon the head and breast and the wings didn’t snap with the same authority as they had when they’d first met, but got the job done.

Lil opened her wings and leapt into the abyss that spread before her. She’d search for Loop if needed, but for now she’d stretch her wings and hold down the home front as planned. Loop would be home soon.

************

Loop and Lil had met four years earlier when they were not only youthful, but full of all that life had to offer. Lil, while shy and a bit nervous about the forest and the dangers within was passionate about starting a family and settling down. Loop was brave, much bolder and possessed a great passion for flying fast. He loved to soar deep into the forest and return with food for Lil and their hatchlings.

They’d managed well together, making their home in a great pine that overlooked the valley and by most measures had a very successful union. Their chicks had thrived but had all flown the coop to start their own turtle dove clans.

*************

Now, from that very nest in the great pine, Lil’s hopefulness was dwindling and quickly being replaced by a great dread that something terrible had happened. Loop had never been gone this long before. He’d been gone overnight only once before due to an injury he’d suffered while scuffling with an ornery barn owl. Still, he’d returned to his loving Lil, ruffled but alive. Tonight would mark two nights away. All the possible dangers came to mind. Predators were everywhere, in the air, in the trees and on the ground. Lil buried her beak under her wing and began to weep.

“Come home Old Boy,” she mumbled into her downy feathers. “Come home to your girl.”

As the sun fell below the tree line and darkness fell upon the great pine, Lil held her lonely vigil.

“There are clouds in the sky
Clouds of fear and despair
But love like ours never dies
Changing skies, changing skies”

--Changing Skies --Willie Nelson