I fly
swollen with tears,
like a helium latex balloon,
stretched and filled with air….
I had a large green one, once
when I was seven.
They were new…. nothing
like it had ever been seen in
our little, sober village
where neighbours gossiped
and stabbed each other in
the back with words.
I just wanted the helium balloon
to carry me away…..
way up, way out, way beyond….
where I didn’t have to be
squeezed in my heart, in my soul.
Now, I realise my balloon did come.
Music carried me away…
way up, way out, way beyond anything
I ever knew there in the little village
with their little tiny thoughts and heavy lives.
As swollen rivers burst their banks
so too do swollen, red-rubbed eyes ….
then water flows and the pressure drops.
Helium balloons do land, eventually.