The young man with the tam-o’-shanter

wanders around the park,

a cloud of balloons follows him wherever he goes,

one by one the small children come and go away,

with their balloons softly tied to their little fingers.

“Balloons, balloons for sale.”

“I sell them for a bargain.”

“I’ve got Reds, Blues, and Yellows.”

“Round, Tear Drop or Heart-Shaped.”

“Just pick one and this may be your LUCKY Day!”

The whisper of a voice comes from nowhere,

The balloon salesman twists and turns

to face his small customer,

He is flustered, as his sudden move

tangles the lines and balloons above him.

The child stares at the salesman, arms crossed, slightly tilted head

and the pose of a quite amused but still potentially good client.

“How can I help you, sir?”

“Why do you sell balloons?”

As he untangles himself, he gazes benignly at his inquisitor.

“That’s a very good question, young man.”

“Actually, what I sell are dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Well, as people grow old, they either lose the ability

or desire to dream,

so, it’s easy to buy one from me.”

“But I do not see any adults buying balloons.”

“That’s right, only children like you

seem to have an interest, let alone pay,

to walk away with their dreams,

tied in a knot around the fingers,

floating above their heads wherever they go.”

“Why do we dream?”

“To chase our truest wishes and desires.”

He frees up all his balloons into a tight formation above him

and is finally able to face his diminutive interrogator,

who has not moved from his wide stance even one inch.

“But very few kids ask as many questions as you do.

So, tell you what kid: today is your LUCKY Day!”

“Your curiosity is about to open new doors for you,

I will take you for a ride

into the world of dreams and imagination.”

Then a giant balloon, with the colors of a rainbow,

softly lifts them up into the open skies

and drifts slowly towards the endless horizon.

“When we dream, we float above reality.”

“From a balloon, the fields look greener,

the trees seem lusher,

the buildings and the streets appear neatly organized,

and the lakes and the rivers seem like

the blood vessels of nature,

because as we hover, everything moves slowly underneath,

allowing us to see and appreciate better

the details in life.”

“As in a dream, there’s no direction in a balloon flight,

hence, we journey without a destination

and that in turn provides us with absolute freedom,

that’s because we have no constrains and feel unfiltered,

when we dream, we see the truth about ourselves,

and visualize, wish and think about life and people,

the way we really feel about them.”

“When we float from above, we are also able to see

The magnificence of life,

The perfection of nature and

The harmony and sheer magnitude of the universe.”

Slowly, the giant balloon descends back to reality.

Then, the balloon salesman ties a big one

with bright and shiny colors

to his middle finger,

and the child walks away happy

with his dream floating above him.

“Balloons, balloons for sale.”

“I sell them cheap!”

“I’ve got Reds, Blues, and Yellows.”

“Just pick one and this may be your LUCKY Day!”