Dream Harder Poem by Doug Lane

I've forgotten to feed the cats.
Of course, I've forgotten.
Because the cats are dead.
But still it haunts me
The forgetting.
The neglect.
The guilt of all I could have done,
and maybe I didn't.
The lengths I could have gone to
that I cut short.
The dream I had
of a cat box
in my mother's bedroom,
and I can only ask
did I change it enough?
Is that why she left?
Do you think she
got out
through the cat door?
Is that how
she escaped?
If I had
tried harder,
could I have
blocked
her exit,
kept her
here?
Would she be with me now
had I
tried harder
in my dreams?
I've got to try harder,
to dream harder,
to dream her back.
Cats do come back
you know.
Perhaps Mother
will too.
If only
I dream
hard enough.