Cloud Instant

I remember a cloud that decided to inhabit the city for an instant;
it enters the alleys like a key giving way,
the light shifts, and the city holds its breath.
Changing colors, it dims and lights stone corners;
streetlights trace a caress of golden shadow,
every façade rewriting memories from yesterday.
Whoever watches the cloud relives different memories:
a distant sea, a window wet with light, a lost voice;
time flows slowly, like rain held in a pocket.
When the cloud departs, the sky returns to its ordinary blue;
but the memory stays, scent of rain and a thread of light through the streets;
and we, raising our eyes, listen to that brief breath still vibrating.