This passage is from the book Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey, 2015, a memoir of a woman with such extreme light sensitivity that she must stay in absolute darkness most of the time or she suffers from extreme pain.  She developed it later in life, just as she was developing a new relationship.  It’s a story of chronic illness, and a bit of a love story, too.  This short passage is a reflection on lost friendships:

“Friendship plants itself as a small unobtrusive seed; over time, it grows thick roots that wrap around your heart.  When a love affair ends, the tree is torn out quickly, the operation painful but clean.  Friendship withers quietly, there is always hope of revival.  Only after time has passed do you recognize that it is dead, and you are left, for years afterwards, pulling dry brown fibers from your chest.”

If you’d like to see more of it, here’s a link to NPR’s first read. http://www.npr.org/2015/02/17/386953005/exclusive-first-read-anna-lyndseys-girl-in-the-dark