From his yellow bucket of suds
the bubble man lifts the dripping cords
high above his head on rods;
he looks like a praying mantis.
Gently he parts the cords
to conjure a soapy rainbowed film;
then, stepping back, he balloons it
into a huge wonder bubble.
The crowd is wonderstruck
as he sets the wobbling bubble free;
it wallows drunkenly in the air
struggling to make itself round.
Awed by his own creation, his biggest yet,
the bubble man wills it to survive;
The children jump to burst it,
but a breeze lifts the bubble from their reach.
We briefly glimpse our bright reflections ’
passengers in a translucent airship ’
before the bubble floats over roofs into the blue,
taking our souls on a day-trip to heaven.