Without Me

This pine stands without companions. His parents, his siblings, his cousins are gone.

What if he’s lonely? What if he doesn’t know what to make of this life, its struggles and fighting?

I thought to hike to him. To place my palm on his hard bark and examine the work he’s done with what little he’s been given. The scarce water. The rocky soil. The band of basalt above him.

But the slope was steep and the path undefined. I climbed back in my SUV instead. Satisfied that he could last another day without me.