SleepWalking, Or Not

I stirred and heard him crying in my sleep
and felt a thrill at that familiar sound.
My body up and on my feet, I walked
and at the back door, he was gladly found.

I scooped him up and held him in my arms,
so cold he was from the cold winter night.
I warmed some milk, he lapped it hungrily…
then wrapped him in a shawl of blue and white.

Back down the hall, I went with him to bed
and must have fallen back to sleep a while.
Later, I woke and thought about my dream;
recalled it with a tear, half-hearted smile.

But oh, there was that shawl upon my bed,
milk saucer on the floor, back door ajar!
Was I sleepwalking? More than just a dream?
My Charlie cat, long gone…this was bizarre!

Why are his shawl and bowl within my sight?
He’d passed, September, many years ago.
I fully opened the back kitchen door…
and there I saw paw footprints in the snow.