Still Giddy – a poem

I come untethered

my flesh expanding, ballooning

suffused with blood rich

with hydrogen, or helium

whichever is most combustible

heart pumping like a bellows

flush with the effort, racing,

rising giddy, reaching for the sun

lush and golden — I need no wax

no feathers, there is nothing left

to melt — the danger is in bursting

expanding and dissolving

transforming into a cloud

inarticulate particles, beautiful

but alien, repulsive, untouchable

so touch me, ground me, tie me down

by an arm, a leg, a single strand

of rust-dyed hair, be my tether,

elastic and infinitely long;

risk the dizzy flight.