a shot at optimism

Perhaps the most amazing fire adaptation is that some species actually require fire for their seeds to sprout. Some plants, such as the lodgepole pine, Eucalyptus, and Banksia, have serotinous cones or fruits that are completely sealed with resin. These cones/fruits can only open to release their seeds after the heat of a fire has physically melted the resin. Other species, including a number of shrubs and annual plants, require the chemical signals from smoke and charred plant matter to break seed dormancy. Some of these plants will only sprout in the presence of such chemicals and can remain buried in the soil seed bank for decades until a wildfire awakens them.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

 Nature's peace will flow into you

 as sunshine flows into trees.

 The winds will blow their own freshness into you,

and the storms their energy, 

while cares will drop off 

like autumn leaves.

i've had root canal surgery

a few times,

the result of a strong jaw and

unrelenting devils.

once, though

a lower molar had become infected, and

consequently

the anesthesia wouldn't take.

i still allowed the doctor to 

go through with it, because 

sometimes in life

the bleeding pulp of your tooth is exposed

to the pokings of an industrious monkey,

and the only way out is through.

this remains, by a long shot, 

the worst pain i've ever

had to endure, which

i cannot hope to convey 

in words.

in any case,

the procedure digs out the nerves, so

whatever remained of the tooth

was filled, sealed, and 

forgotten;

that is, until, 

years later

i bit on something crunchy, and

the entire tooth 

the whole thing

split right down the middle,

top to bottom, like a log

under the axe of a lumberjack.

it didn't hurt, of course, but

it was now beyond repair. 

a different, 

supposedly better dentist

attributed the fact to some

'structural damage'

developed as a consequence of

the surgery, years earlier,

being performed

poorly.

we want to be resilient,

to quote Nietzsche

(was mich nicht umbringt, 

macht mich stärker)

and feel immortal.

i would sooner stand with Blake;

'wisdom is sold with the price

of all that a man has',

and thus

wouldn't it be reasonable to say

that the wisest among us

are, also, the most

brittle?