You need only have noticed someone once,
and he will have an entree to your dreams
for the rest of your life. Or he may never
reappear at all. Who knows whose names
are there when the credits scroll? Who knows
how often one has passed one’s someday spouse
before actually being introduced?
But as to dreams, just multiply
each single unnoticed noticing
by the number of sentient beings everywhere
you’ve ever lived and think how vast
an afterlife one stands to enjoy
in the world of dreams. That’s one good reason
for dressing well (or at least memorably)
and making witty remarks: Strangers
will remember you. There are cats
who’ve been dead for decades who still
rest comfortably on cushions
in the dreamt apartments of those
who’d thought, “What a lovely cat.”
But alas for the creatures of darkness.
They lived unseen and will not live again.

—Thomas M. Disch
October 2008