For Cricket, July 1996—February 2017.

“And all their echoes mourn.” – Lycidas by John Milton

I woke with Lycidas on my tongue, and I should have known.
My prayers for my ailing cat and empty womb had become twined
together, his dark fur falling to shadow as the months passed.

In my dream, I had stuttered the name, given it to my newborn, its body
turning to vapor as I stirred. The weekend we read Milton, that elegy
was waiting for me, my cat tottering as he moved toward his bowl

and then, his aching stillness, his labored breaths in my arms. I swaddled him
in linen when he passed, held him to my chest, and went out into the still morning.

My prayers for my ailing cat and empty womb had become twined

This article appears in Fall Literary Review 2018.

Taylor D’Amico is assistant poetry editor for the journal Five Points and worked as production editor for the online journal Muse/A. She is currently completing her M.F.A. at Georgia State University.