When he awoke, he

Wondered

Why

He had dreamed

What he had dreamed

At the beginning of March –

No birthdays, no anniversaries,

And then he thought

About the death of his dog

Three weeks before.

Would it? Could it?

The death of a pet

Triggering a

Dream

About his wife of twenty-six

Years

Who died almost twenty years

Before?

This time

He told his wife,

Who, for the first time, instead

Of turning from him,

Wanted him to stay with

Her at her art exhibit,

That he had to go.

She had always left

Him

In his sweat as he

Had emerged

So very, very

Sad from sleep.

He wondered aloud,

“Had the dog

Meant that

Much?”