Ahn's Balloons.

I peeked out from my second floor window
to the kids gathering in bundles
laughing and playing
and moving all around.

One of the boys held on to
3 helium balloons of bright colors
and big words
"congratulations"
"good job!"
"the best is yet to come!"

he, untied the balloons from the strings
one by one
laughing and joking while undoing the knots

and paused



he let the first balloon go
and all the kids ran, chasing the shadow of the floating balloons
they laughed and yelled
watching the balloon turn into a tiny pencil dot in the sky

the second balloon
went up
and one child yelled "stop!"
but, the balloon, ignoring the demands, floated far and faster
up
up
up
and away

the boy waved the final balloon in the others faces
and laughed
but this time, the kids weren't laughing as hard

he looked at the crowd of serious faces
and paused



from my window I watched him fidget, as if he were trying to tie the balloon back on the string
but,
his tiny fingers failed him
and from his grasp
the final balloon floated out of his hands

I watched the bright red balloon float
the words becoming more unclear the farther up it went

the



best


is


yet



to



come!

And as I closed my window,
I watched
all of the children
look to the sky and
wave goodbye


**winnie.