PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I watched a man out on the sands

Selling pink balloons,

The strings all tugging in the wind;

The band was playing tunes.

As I stood there on the bank

The wind picked up its play,

And to his consternation

His balloons all blew away.



I watched him chasing after them,

But he was old and fat.

The rubber balls blew out to sea...

I thought that that was that!

But, while the band continued on

He plunged into the wave,

Quite unconcerned that he had stepped

Into a watery grave.



Yet I was quite amazed at his

Ability to swim;

Taking off my shoes and socks

To dive in after him.

By the time I reached the shore

The man was far at sea.

As swimmer he could far out-class

An amateur like me!



His arms like windmills thrashed the waves,

The foam behind him spread;

Following his pink balloons,

Further out he sped.

As he disappeared from sight

I watched him from the dunes

Quite certain he would fail to ever

Capture his balloons.



In half an hour he'd not appeared;

I wondered if I ought to

Go and find the lifeguards who could

Save him from the water.

Just as I'd decided that I'd

Really have to go

He swam into my vision with

His pink balloons in tow.



Relieved to know that in the sea

The man had not expired,

I saw as he came closer that

He hadn't even tired.

As he stepped out of the surf

He didn't blink an eye,

Just continued selling pink balloons

To children passing by.



Last Summer I went back and, yes,

That man was there again,

Still offering his pink balloons as

The band played its refrain.

I'll always wonder how a man

As old and fat as he

Could have retrieved those pink balloons

From so far out at sea.