The balloon that got away

When I was a child
On winter holiday 
At my grandparent’s
Apartment cluster’s
Communal playground
In the city of Tianjin

I had a helium 
Rooster balloon
A plaything I had 
Pleaded to get 
From a street peddler 
Because I had to have 
The rooster thrusting
Its red aluminium crown
Into the cold night sky

My fingers froze
Holding on to the
Ribbon leash 
Instead of hiding them
In my pockets
But I ran up and
Down the playground
Because now I have
My rooster balloon

Suddenly though
The rooster mustered
A spurt of strength
To tear away 
From its master
Eager to escape
The fate of eventual
Death by deflation

I found out that
The sky was 
A lot higher 
Than it seemed and
Could not contain 
My escaping rooster
Within the atmosphere
Under the reign of
An adult’s reach 

So I watched it
Get away and
Strain against 
Gravity’s chains
Until it fled into the
Shrubbery of stars

The entire way up
My rooster was 
Crowing in victory
Or that might have been
Just my sad earnest
Wailing coming from the
Pits of my being

I think back now
To the child with 
Freezing carrots for fingers
Watching the balloon’s flight 
Except now I am watching
The familiar ground
Of my mother’s love
Recede and leave me
Alone and severed 
In the land of the free

This time I am not 
The forlorn weeping child
Being left behind
This time I will be 
Airborne and freeing
Myself into the night
And straining to meet
The limit of the sky
Like my balloon that
Got away