Scenery 10

A clump of cabbage trees is growing where
nothing else has managed to, the river
flats. Whitened branches lie about as
if a testament to the challenging
environment. While to anthropomorphise
seems hardly different from describing
the trees, spiky topknots in evident
confabulation. No less intrepid than
hardy, they look like they might themselves
only be passing through, the topic of
their discourse—these the ultimate testing
habitat, to scale and (self-flag) take root
upon—the mountains which, after some
intermediary forest, lord it behind.