A piece remains

All along the chain link fence by the baseball fields, there are pieces of tree root merged with the steel. 

From a distance, they look like a shoddy cleanup job, but up close, you can see where the gardener tried with all his might to break the pieces off the fence, and failed. You can see chop marks on the steel, and imagine the sweat on the brow of the body wielding the axe. But the pieces of wood remain glued to the metal links.

Sometimes a piece remains despite everything you try to do to remove it.

Maybe you just need to try harder to remove it. There has to be a way. Maybe you’re just not doing it right. 

Or, maybe it’s not meant to leave. There must be a reason it remains. Maybe you should just let it be. Learn to live with it. Let it sit there, incomplete. Hacked apart by previous attempts at removal, a reminder of steadfastness and to stay in the face of adversity.

Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s just a really stubborn piece of tree root.