The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Friends

Listen to David ...
Like your mum when she’s in a good mood
or your dad trying to knock up some food,
like a kitten jumps into your lap
like sticking your toe in the bathroom tap,
like your sister who’s playing the fool
while your brother pretends to be cool,
like a dog with a bone,
like an ice cream cone,
like the end of the day
when there’s time to play,
like the friendly smile of the lollipop man
and the chocolate cake when you visit your gran:
that’s what it’s like when you have good friends,
so be one yourself, hope it never ends.

About the Writer


David Bleiman

David is a grandfather and poet living in Edinburgh. He loves to write across the languages and his first pamphlet, This Kilt of Many Colours (Dempsey & Windle, 2021) is a multilingual mixter-maxter in English, Scots, Spanish and Yiddish. This celebration of David's Jewish heritage includes the prizewinning Trebbler's Tale, written in a partly excavated but largely reimagined lost dialect of Scots-Yiddish. With the sense of humour of an overgrown schoolboy, David is now writing childish poems for himself and other children.