C.C. Thistlethwaite - poem - The Moon on Kilimanjaro

The Moon on Kilimanjaro

Mountain light, time-out-of-mind,
a place no one can ever go,
a place no one will ever leave –
the moon on Kilimanjaro.

You mourn for the one who died so young;
you mourn for the thing you didn’t do.
(She lived on Kilimanjaro Street;
you didn’t have a clue.)

So on it goes with the daily dog
out bounding in the yarrow –
that the ones you love are like fetch and throw;
they seem to come and they seem to go –
but it’s just a matter of melting snow
and the moon on Kilimanjaro.

– C. C. Thistlethwaite

The Moon on Kilimanjaro © D.M. Wideman, 2003