Dead Basil Plant

I've been trying to grow basil in my apartment for the past year, but for some reason, it is the one plant that keeps shriveling up and dying before I've had a chance to harvest any of the leaves. I'm not sure why. Anyway, when I was pulling out the roots of my most recent basil miscarriage, I was struck by how beautiful they were. So I snapped a few digital pictures and created this photo collage in photoshop. (I had taken the pictures of the birds a while ago when I was designing my website).