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After the Diagnosis These cells have destroyed large portions of the gland. The presence of capsular and vascular invasion suggests the prognosis may not be as favorable as usually seen. —Pathology report At 3 AM, I leave the house and follow the footsteps of the cat through a dusting of snow. I lose her trail near the white pines, the moon––resected and luminous, somewhere out across the lake. I want to walk through the trees and along the creek to where the path breaks through to open water. Though I won’t go so far. This wind is coarse and I’m not dressed against the cold; the stars, at best, are far-off fires. They caress nothing. You are so tired since coming home–– a second smile newly stitched across your throat. Between the moment when the great horned owl ceases to mourn for the vole and the last train before dawn, the cold rebuilds its silence in the trees. No elegies. This winter is just one more darkness we must learn to walk through. 58 ...

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