Matched

I was right; the words are old. But even though I don’t recognize the type, I recognize the format.

Grandfather gave me poetry.

Of course. My great-grandmother. The Hundred Poems. I know without having to check on the school ports that this poem is not one of them. She took a great risk hiding this paper, and my grandfather and grandmother took a great risk keeping it. What poems could be worth losing everything for?

The very first line stops me in my tracks and brings tears to my eyes and I don’t know why except that this one line speaks to me as nothing else ever has.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

I read on, through words I do not understand and ones that I do.

I know why it spoke to Grandfather: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.

And as I read on, I know why it speaks to me: Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

My words have forked no lightning. Grandfather even told me this, before he died, when I gave him that letter that I didn’t truly write. Nothing I have written or done has made any difference in this world, and suddenly I know what it means to rage, and to crave.

I read the whole poem and eat it up, drink it up. I read about meteors and a green bay and fierce tears and even though I don’t understand al of it —the language is too old—I understand enough. I understand why my grandfather loved this poem because I love it too. Al of it. The rage and the light.

The line under the title of the poem says Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953.

There is another poem on the other side of the paper. It’s cal ed “Crossing the Bar,” and it was written by someone who lived even further in the past than Dylan Thomas—Lord Alfred Tennyson. 1809-1892.

So long ago, I think. So long ago they lived and died.

And they, like Grandfather, wil never come back.

Greedy, I read the second poem, too. I read the words of both poems over again several times, until I hear the sharp snap of a stick near me.

Quickly, I fold up the paper and put it away. I have lingered too long. I have to go; to make up the time I’ve lost.

I have to run.

I don’t hold back; this isn’t the tracker, so I can push myself hard, through the branches and up the hil . The words of the Thomas poem are so wild and beautiful that I keep repeating them silently to myself as I run. Over and over I think do not go gentle, do not go gentle, do not go gentle. It isn’t until I’m almost at the top of the hil that realization hits me: There’s a reason they didn’t keep this poem.

This poem tel s you to fight.

One more branch stings my face as I break through the clearing, but I don’t stop—I push out into the open. I look around for the Officer. He’s not there, but someone else is already at the top. Ky Markham.

To my surprise, we are alone on top of the hil . No Officer. No other hikers.

Ky’s more relaxed than I have ever seen him, leaning back on his elbows with his face tipped toward the sun and his eyes closed. He looks different and unguarded. Looking at him, I realize that his eyes are where I notice most the distance he keeps. Because when he hears me, he opens them and looks at me, and it almost happens. I almost catch a glimpse of something real before I see again what he wants me to see.

The Officer appears out of the trees next to me. He moves quietly, and I wonder what he’s observed in the woods. Did he see me? He looks down at the datapod in his hand and then back up at me. “Cassia Reyes?” he asks. Apparently I was predicted to finish second. My stop must not have been as long as I thought.

“Yes.”

“Sit there and wait,” the Officer says, pointing toward the grassy clearing at the top of the hil . “Enjoy the view. According to this, it’s going to be a few minutes before anyone else gets up here.” He gestures to the datapod and then disappears back into the trees.

I pause for a moment before I walk toward Ky, trying to calm down. My heart pounds, fast, from the running. And from the sound in the trees.

“Hel o,” Ky says, when I get closer.

“Hel o.” I sit on the grass next to him. “I didn’t know you were doing hiking, too.”

“My mother thought it would be a good choice.” I notice how easily he uses the word “mother” to describe his aunt Aida. I think about how he has slipped into his life here, how he became who everyone expected him to be in Mapletree Borough. Despite being new and different, he did not stand out for long.

In fact, I’ve never seen him finish first in anything before, and I speak before I think. “You beat us al today,” I say, as if that fact weren’t obvious.

“Yes,” he says, looking at me. “Exactly as predicted. I grew up in the Outer Provinces and have had the most experience with activities like this.”