A balloon deflated 20 years ago.
A red balloon
Inflated with a child’s pure, pristine, untainted dream.
Now wrinkled, withered, and worn…
Small
Emptied by the reality others preach.
Generation
To generation
We pass down
The impossibility
Of the future.
We set our children up for failure.
We destroy
That which was destroyed for us, passing down a devastating legacy.
Burst the child’s balloon like others did to ours when we were young
By using needles of doubt to puncture the possible
Before their dream
Can float
To a destination
And flourish in a place
Where
nothing is impossible.
Copyright 2006 Cathy Kaplan