One by one, our comrades slip away

From Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand, and Stars.

Saint-Exupery is best known for his book, The Little Prince. He flew in the 1920s and 1930s for what later became Air France. In those days, accidents were frequent. Saint-Exupery writes about the experience of showing up at the airfield and hearing that one more friend had died.

Bit by bit, nevertheless, it comes over us that we shall never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this one garden is forever locked against us. And at that moment begins our true mourning, which, though it may not be heartrending, is still slightly bitter. For nothing, in truth, can replace that companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.

So life goes on. For years we plant the seed, we feel ourselves rich; and then come other years when time does its work and our plantation is made sparse and thin. One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive us of their shade. ⁴

⁴Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars (London, UK: The Folio Society, 1990), 26.