Cloze 4 I cross a small creek. 1 down, I shovel the snow off the surface and tap the ice 2 my hand, imagining a painted turtle 3 beneath it half-hearing the thud as it waits 4 for spring. Somewhere in the woods too are the 5 black bears. They 6 up to 20,000 calories a day, 7 30 percent to their body weight. With the first snow, they den in 8 logs, caves, shallow holes lined with grass. Their heart 9 drop to ten beats a minute and they settle 10 for four to six months. 11 here on the thin edge, a few 12 from a climate unsuitable for life, I find 13 comforting to know that under the snow, bears are sleeping 14 an innocent belief that the sun will come again and 15 the rivers and make the flowers 16 . The 17 signs of life make it possible to believe in spring again. They help me 18 the beauty of what is left of winter and remind me 19 the cold won’t last forever. Each track, each piece of bird song, each frozen seed, is an 20 of life, a defiance to the cold.