a litany of ruminations

XXX : a thousand paper cranes, a thousand paper wishes (crumbling in the wind)

A/N: (not exactly poetry, but eh!)

Paper Cranes

"Anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes will have their heart's desire come true."

"I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." – Sadako Sasaki

An intricately folded paper crane rests upon a windowsill coated with a veneer of dust telling of its neglect, paper wings spread as if it were to suddenly take flight. In what way would this bear any form of semblance to me, you ask? Paper cranes, the main image provoked by the word 'origami,' crafted of delicate paper wishes, because they say, in Japanese legend, that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, due to your patience and commitment, you can ask the gods for your most desired wish and it would be granted.

(Cranes represent loyalty, dedication, and faithfulness, and I can only hope that I can reciprocate and exhibit those precise attributes.)

And...I suppose...I suppose that it is because that I have so many dreams and wishes, yet no matter how many of them I fold----

-----One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine----

counting every single one with a wistful smile, I suppose one could say I have little ambition, nearly nonexistent drive to bring them into fruition, to fulfillment. And the birds will never fly on inanimate paper wings, featherless triangular appendages protruding from paper-light bodies. Paper wishes can crumble in the wind.

Quiet. Silent. The way origami would rest, solemn, with no mouth to close and no eyes to see the immense world outside its boundaries, so many conflicting thoughts to be expressed yet never releasing a heart wrenching cry of the majestic crane. Timid in its approach to speech.

Complexity in a small package, controversial, a paper-crafted paradox. Deceptively fragile, but in actuality stronger than its appearance gave away, artistic, in a sense, from how a square of paper could hatch into a small, majestic bird. How the paper giving life to the creature could be crumpled over and over again, several attempts giving way to the final result...How I can make mistakes, erasing over and over yet with an exhausted finality, making it in the end by some mystical force of nature.

Cranes symbolize peace, as I can only hope to bring peace to others by consolation of horrendous puns and the best (or rather, worst) kind of humor. Peace seems like a transient, flighty thing I can only hope to cradle within my hands, holding under tension and strain before it eventually shatters and people are left to pick up the pieces.

A symbol of happiness. Paper cranes represent an emotion that I would assume be often present within my expression, radiant and laughing behind a covered hand as usual, often brought out by the presence of close confidantes whose names I shall not disclose for their privacy, although it probably is quite obvious---their identities, I mean.

And above all, they are a symbol of hope. I believe myself a naïve person, foolishly idealistic, optimistic, in a sense, within a realistic (perhaps even pessimistic?) world. I would like to think the best of others, forgiveness as easily given as smiles, as easily as breaths inhaled in---and out. Yes, I would like to believe...no matter what the future holds, all you can do is believe, thinking positively, as if the future is smiling on you.

And the paper crane, with the crease, the wrinkling of previously-folded paper, it gathers all of its hopes, dreams, wishes, drawing upon them to give it strength, pulling its wings and to soar through the air, flying into an uncertain future through an open window into an impossibly blue sky.

All but a foolish dream I can only hope to embrace.