accidental memories

I endlessly seem to come across bits of mature trees left when pruning left too long finally happens. Fences and overhead cables host these 'lost limbs' which have grown around the fixed object. Do people see these in the same light as the pairs of shoes slung over telephone lines?

I try to imagine what the missing tree might have been, like an archeologist imagining an entire pot, city, or culture by just finding one shard.

What if once we were dead and gone, we all left one piece of ourselves still attached to where we lived. An amputated hand permanently attached a handrail at the library; a foot on one pedal of a used bike being sold on; an elbow glued to the armrest of a used car.