This red balloon with broken string is floating into the sky,
I watch it swaying and jerking, as it enters the atmosphere,
Lost sadly to this earth of ours, it now says a last goodbye,
Sailing towards the fleecy clouds, it invites the wind to steer.
Had a small hand let go the string, so escape was rather fast,
Twirling away, those powerful currents assuring a final climb.
Slowly receding into the blue, disappearing back to the past,
Lost in that extensive vast place, a gap in space and time.
Unencumbered now, it unhurriedly continues to journey on,
Perhaps it was a child's treasure, a simple pleasing thing,
Thinking about it, to whom I wonder, did it once belong,
This red balloon, that's floating with a trailing broken string.
©   Ernestine Northover