XXIII
The Balloon
You’ve seen balloons set, haven’t you?So stately they ascendIt is as swans discarded youFor duties diamond.
Their liquid feet go softly outUpon a sea of blond;They spurn the air as ‘t were too meanFor creatures so renowned.
Their ribbons just beyond the eye,They struggle some for breath,And yet the crowd applauds below;They would not encore death.
The gilded creature strains and spins,Trips frantic in a tree,Tears open her imperial veinsAnd tumbles in the sea.
The crowd retire with an oathThe dust in streets goes down,And clerks in counting-rooms observe,‘’T was only a balloon.’