Traveled through the farmland to visit my friend Rachel (see “Roads”). Winter brings a harsh beauty to Wisconsin.

The landscape dazzles thanks to snow and subzero temperatures. The first sunlight in days, too, and a clear sky.

For some reason, this river refuses to freeze over.

Silence holds the air, numbs fingers and lungs.

I think of winter, how it halts life here. To press forward, to even breathe, is to struggle against Nature. I think of Rachel, whose progress has been halted by cancer’s return to her brain stem. She struggles to speak, to walk, to eat. She fights against that which Nature has planted in her. Twice. I think of her, and winter, and remember that the thaw has to come, and with it, life, and hope.