The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Christmas Wish List

So what do you want for Christmas?
asks Lily who lives next door.
Well, I don’t want Pictionary –
I’d lose every time: I can’t draw.

But what DO you want? Mum and Dad join in:
an e-scooter to fly whizzing past?
No!
They scare me, I’d fall off, I know it –
they go much, much too fast!

Do you want the latest Transformer?
No!
I’d have to arrange an exchange
with Pete or Sunita or Daisy –
I can never make them change.

We could get you a nerf-gun-thingy:
they’re really hard to break.
No!
I know it would end really badly –
I’d be sure to shoot Nan by mistake!

What about one of those books
That’s specially personalised?
No!
a book that knows more about me
than I do? A horrid surprise!

Everyone loves Harry Potter;
you must want an invisibility cloak.
No!
No one would ever find me again –
you’d forget me, like a bad joke.

But there HAS to be something you want, they say,
we know you’re only bluffing.
OK, what I really, really want,
is absolutely nothing!

Nothing is something you can’t break
and it’s something you can’t lose;
you can keep nothing for ever and ever –
yes, NOTHING is what I choose!

About the Writer


Hilary Elder

Hilary was born, raised and lives in the Far North of England – though she has been to other places. She loves writing for children and grownups, and doing projects helping people get the most out of words. She has work published in Tyger Tyger, The Caterpillar, Paddle Press, The Dirigible Balloon and Northern Gravy, among others. Her first book of poems comes out with Valley Press in 2025. Find her at hilaryelder.com