Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
By Kathy Armijo

Before the sun comes up
And all the hot air balloons begin to fly
You see the Dawn Patrol high in the dark sky.

Dawn Patrol gives fellow balloonists
An opportunity to view
Wind speeds and directions of different altitudes.

Soon we’ll see
Hundreds of balloons
Going up in waves

The flight coordinators known as “zebras”
Because of their black-n-white-striped outfits
Coordinate the balloonists' take-off

Soon the skyline will be transformed
With unbelievable shape and color speckling against the Sandia Mountains
As hundreds of balloons soar toward the heavens

Thousands of onlookers roam the grounds entranced
Looking at the multi-colored balloons and their favorite balloon hoping to see
Or just sharing in the reverie 

Albuquerque’s International Balloon Fiesta
Is the place to see
Ballooning in all its wondrous majesty
It happens annually
Beginning the first weekend in October
Through the following Sunday.
Come join us next year in the camaraderie.  

Balloonist Prayer

May the winds welcome you with softness.
May the sun bless you with its warm hands.
May you fly so high and so well that God
joins you in laughter and sets you gently
back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.