He loved its color and shape,
Surprised that it could keep growing
Growing and growing, becoming a giant balloon;
Carried it everywhere, to work place;
On the streets, the shopping mall,
Not worried people talking,
An older man carrying a balloon!
Carried it even to bed, clutching it
As though it meant everything.
It interfered in everything, though!
Friends broke up, family loathed it;
Children kept themselves away,
But come what may, he clung to it,
Though it came in the way all the time.
One day it happened, all of a sudden,
On a bus he sat, clutching the balloon,
A nuisance though, in the crowded bus,
A child kept staring at him and the balloon,
In a sudden movement, the little one launched forward,
Grabbed the balloon with her tiny fingers;
Digging into the soft material, with her nail
Tupp!!! It burst with aloud noise…
All turned in a unified diabolical movement,
He, of all, in a rude shock and bewilderment
With his eyes and mouth wide open to an impossible stretch.
He looked in anger and humiliation at the child
The child offering an unarming, innocent smile
He stared for a moment, lost in an uncanny rush of thoughts.
A moment, but an eternal one
A change came over him, to his own surprise,
His eyes shrinking to two slits like,
His cheek muzzles relaxing from that eternal strain
His forehead,free from its constant frown
A volcano of laughter erupted, after a long time,
Even had forgotten to laugh or lost the skill.
Throwing his head backward spontaneously,
All in the bus joining in the chorus,
Him, relieved from the burden of his giant balloon
Childlike once again… free at last!
∎
