Swallowed, but not Digested

I like this:

"On the outskirts of Konya lies a suburb called Mehram where the ugly tower blocks of the city give way to small groups of stone houses that were once steppe villages. Mehram has been swallowed by the encroaching city, but among the winter apple trees, the mud walls, and the snow-dusted pathways, the trace elements of a rural past, you can sense that Mehram has not yet been digested.”

- A Fez of the Heart, page 192

It's one of those things you almost don't trust yourself not to reuse later, consciously or unconsciously.