The Red Balloon (Revision Formerly: What Must Come)

[billy]

One day, the red balloon
will slip from your fingers—
as it slipped from mine,
as it has from every child
ever born.
Am I wrong
for not tying the string tight
in an angry circle, a burn
around your wrist?

One day, you won’t even hear
her words, as if spoken from
a great distance across a chasm.
You’ll remember a solemn face,
cold lips pressed against your cheek.
Years later in the heat of new love,
you’ll wonder why your fingertips remain icy,
that you shiver uncontrollably.

In that moment, you’ll find yourself
standing on the moist, frost-covered earth
the ground stained by the kills
of a solitary owl screeching
its plaintive cry.

On that day, you’ll learn
what I already know.
I cannot protect you
from being alone.

for me, the resignation that the child must grow is strong in the poem.
though the telling of it feels a little weak.
the last two stanza work well and create the point point well.

i think the 1st stanza takes to long to say what it does, this part though is powerful;
Am I wrong
for not tying the string tight
in an angry circle, a burn
around your wrist? for me this is where the poem should begin.
or with a short lead in line like;
lost red balloons or
lost balloons
Am I wrong
for not tying the string tight
in an angry circle, a burn
around your wrist?

i think with an edit you'll have a really good write here todd. (jmo)
thanks for the read.