Walk, drive, or ride to the mountain.
You remember going there,
but not clearly what it was like,
and you saw only the foothills anyway.
You never reached the tree line
where the world turns into something other.
When the family at the high plantation welcomed you,
you lost your balance in the clouds
(did the hillside tip too far?),
and for a long time after you were cursed with vertigo.
You were unprepared then, and maybe too young.
Now at last you might be ready to climb.

September 8 2023