The Balloon Poem by Holly Jamestone

I reticently walked away from you
Only to jump from the frying pan back into the fire
Your coals that baited me rewarming my heart
Until you again put me out as though with the trash
Your charcoaled heart blacker than ever

The day is new, and my plan is unwavering as
I hold you in my hand, a simple balloon
Austere, pale gray and nondescript
Brimming with indifference, no expression
Floating beneath an ashen backlit sky

Remarkably you aren't as handsome as I always perceived
Your shape asymmetrical and unpredictable,
Not as familiar and enjoyable as I remembered
Nor one of those happy, shiny balloons that people
Delight in seeing up in a gorgeous azure sky

I gladly let go of your string as you pass away
Up into the atmosphere, your color and its gray becoming one
While my mind feels calm and thankful
As you are permanently out of sight while as if on cue
The clouds break and the sun shines down on me

I symbolically ready myself to leave the meadow
Blonde hair so freely blowing back from my face
My smile resolute, my posture erect with resignation
The emotional heel prints you left in my back now healed
Your face now a blank canvas in my world

(2-28-2007)
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