M.D DINESH NAIR (9 -21 / Thrissur (Kerala) / Vijayawada (A.P) , India)

I want to give you, my dear friends,
A balloon of your choice and colour
So that you will play with it
Your sweet face blooming like a rose.

But you are overgrown
Overgrown like never before!
Some are like Goliaths and some resemble the unknown men from Kob.
Some look like overgrown convent girls and a few are like the Amazons.

I want to sell my balloons at any cost
For my balloons are about to burst any moment.
Once you begin to play with them
I am relieved a lot; who cares for your tears?

I tell a man with salt and pepper on head,
`Buy one balloon and play with it for a while`.
He laughs at me and chases a young girl.
My balloons begin to burst.

I whisper into the ears of a woman selling woes,
` A balloon for your happiness to return, please`
She looks into my basket of colours and throws back a sob.
My balloons begin to shrink.

As I walk along the beach of sand dunes,
The waves of my realisation recede to the depths.
My balloons burst within their little vacuums
As my heart longs for being one among them.