Right now as he lies on the rug
the dog is dreaming you.
He dreams you sitting in a chair
reading a book, though he does not know
that a chair is a chair, or a book is a book.
That is the power of dreams.
And the power of dogs.

That dog just keeps on dreaming you.
He rolls on his side, legs twitching,
dreams you throwing a stick, dreams you
sleeping in your own bed at night.
He even dreams the day in 1973
you were arrested for shoplifting,
dreams the mechanical pencil you hid
in the sleeve of your old denim jacket (though
he dreams that wrong--it was chewing gum
no pencil, and summer, no coat)

The dog, asleep in the middle of the day
is dreaming you. He dreams that you were
married once, lived in Florida, lived
in a house built all of stars. Do dogs
look at the stars? The dog, the one who’s
dreaming you, is brown, his ears like silk
stretched on the floor. He’s dreaming you
and soon, just any moment now,
the dog is waking up.

- Bob Mohrbacher