A thousand paper cranes

Based on an old legend

A thousand paper cranes

 

An ancient Japanese legend held that a wish would be granted to anyone who folded a thousand paper cranes. A young girl, stricken with leukemia from the bombing of Hiroshima, spent hours on her deathbed folding paper cranes.

 

One by one they fall

like little paper cranes

from the tips of her fingers,

 

gathering like snowfall

till her bed is lined

by a flightless white flock.

 

With two tiny mirages

of gauzy wings flapping

burnt onto her irises,

 

she waits in quiet resolve

for the cranes to lift her

in a chorus across the sky.

Reviews

[Creepy Swine Guy]

I agree with Leah. This was a very nice poem. It cut into me with the unspoken reality of her plight. Her hope ... balance against the cold reality of life ... and death.

Very well written.

[Lady leah]

Very nicely penned, great write.