Caught in a Cloud

Frozen on a mountaintop of memory

The air is so thin,
I can hardly breathe.
Inside a cloud
to the east, west, north, south—
every side of the mist carries a memory of you:
your laugh
your furtive glance
your footsteps plodding forward.
Am I the only one freezing in the cold,
alone on the mountaintop?
Too frozen to move
familiar clouds passing by—
strands and figments
that keep my heart warm
as my body freezes
and my soul turns to rain

A poem by Pemba Umoja