PURSUIT
She was a child possessed with fears
Whose dreams revealed another place
Where shadowed shapes that lived in mirrors
Pursued her at a furious pace.
She ran all night and every night
And finally slept in that large room.
With just one sister in her sight,
The room was cold as any tomb.
She fled the awful mystery
Stalking her nightly from afar.
Old floors creaked out their company,
Dim light shone from a distant star.
Now, many decades later, each
Passing monster is defined.
And too well known. Each caused a breach
A shattered bond of heart and mind,
Proclaimed the false, the narrow, dull,
Chased her back then, ignored her here
As, quite alone, she felt the pull.
— This poem appears in the December 31, 2014, print issue of National Review.