The nipping of CREATIVITY at her heels.
All she ever wanted was to turn and soothe the beast.
At times she did. Painting, writing, dancing in the dawn.
And other times, the bark grew fainter 
to a whimper,
waking her in the night. 
Was that a call?
A dream, a spiderweb filament, on her face in the morning?
Nothing more. She cupped her ear to hear the bark. 

DOUBT grew from a soft kitten to a lioness,
proud, loud, nippier than CREATIVITY.
DOUBT silenced the dog. 

Alas, SURVIVAL, a deluge of biblical proportions,
drove both cat and dog away. 
"I matter," said SURVIVAL, "for planet, people, places, politics.
Let CREATIVITY nip and DOUBT roar. I matter more."

SURVIVAL set CREATIVITY and DOUBT 
to shelter, huddle, warm themselves, 
wait out the storm.
But the two embraced, allied, befriended, 
plotted to overtake, save SURVIVAL 
-- or at least pacify, soothe SURVIVAL's alarm --
to dance in the daybreak once more.