The Dead Wood Mouse

I awoke this morning to find a dead wood mouse in the garden.  This mouse appeared to have died from natural causes, apparently they live for up to 20 months.   There was nothing surprising or shocking, but as I reflected I became quite sentimental.  Last night as I quietly slept this wood mouse nearby was coming to the end of his/her life.  I found myself thinking in very human terms, had they been feeling unwell, would they be missed? I pondered the final moments as a little mouse life ends.  I buried the mouse in the garden and so he/she becomes part of the nature to which we all belong.