It was a constellation before it was an illness, high in the night sky, star claws reaching to scuttle across the universe. It’s been there longer than any eyes have gazed outward to the glitter and grasped for meaning. Named it. Brought it home to crawl through your sister’s body.

Marilyn McFarlane is a travel writer and the author of Sacred Stories: Wisdom From World Religions. She writes poetry and fiction and occasionally pokes a finger into memoir. She lives in Oregon, where there is a lot of scope for the imagination.