The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Flying to New Zealand (AOTEAROA)

Above the land of the long white cloud
The sky is blue and it laughs out loud.

A sunshine path arcs east to west
Moving on without a rest

Until the world has spun around
And moon and stars have found their ground.

Then the earth’s eyes flash and wink
And moonshine paths wind to the brink

Where lakes and rivers, silver bands,
Rippling fingers of creeping sands

Dwell at the end of all that lies
Beneath my ever-seeking eyes

That watch the clouds and world pass by
As steadily above we fly

Until the curved horizon flattens out
To Aotearoa, where the sun is out!

About the Writer


Val Harris

Val lives near Farnham with a horse and husband and several grandchildren living nearby, who like to mark her poems out of ten. She used to write for adults, but decided she much preferred writing poetry for children, after her debut poem was published online with The Dirigible Balloon in 2021. Since then, several others have appeared on various balloon flights, and she has had poems published in The Caterpillar Magazine, Paperbound Magazine, The Toy Press and Little Thoughts Press. You can find her as Val Poet on Instagram and @dragontripper Val Poet on Twitter.