the unfirm line – Edward Abbey

“A swirl of little pale birds, like confetti, like a net of lace, exfoliated from the sky and draped themselves upon an Aleppo pine … the world continued, bland and blase, while catastrophe opened beneath the one who cared.”
Edward Abbey, The Fools Progress.

Abbey wrote this book as a semi-autobiographical map of his life. In the above line, he had just learned that he has cancer and only months to live. His main character in many/all of his novels was the wilderness. His main theme, his relationship with it.

It is a struggle. Whether I am around to brush my hand across its side or not, the Aleppo Pine will grow regardless.