Biopsy

She wants to know what time it is.

Did she sleep? She has no

time to lose in sleep since probing

fingers circling felt it nestled

jewel-like, beneath her nipple.

A steamy mirror, one arm lifted,

stillness before words rose:

How much time? She needs to know.

Buttoning blouses, moving boxes,

turning toward her lover in

and out of bed, she feared it spoke

to all her cells in secret code

each hour, every stolen minute.

By Kelly Sievers, CRNA