Fuji demands attention

like an adult in a children’s playground.

Its sheer size

has an immediate emotional

and spiritual impact upon me.

I spend the rest of the day

catching glimpses

as its peak is shrouded in cloud,

reminded that this colossus

is not something to be possessed

nor controlled.

As we leave Shimizu

and the light is fading,

the cloud dissipates

as if Fuji is giving us

a farewell wink.