Origami

I take the sunrise path, follow sad scent of memory
To watch some cranes come to this winter field—I shake off shivers in the breeze.

Long ago place—sparks distant pain still clear
A friend asked me to give a thousand cranes to let her dad survive the year

Origami birds, I fold a thousand lines.
But they all crossed in one inevitable place
Where land falls into ocean side
We rule sandcastles through the tide.

I found my refuge in a place where winter killed a cherry tree, severed at its base.
It was blooming in profusion, laughing in death’s face…

An empty unreplaced—loss is this winter field.
Miles away I hear the croaking cry of birds—in the open sky blue steel.

They come in waves, sailing, certain of their way
To watch this ocean of a thousand cranes or more fills me more than I can say.
And when I leave I carry hope away.

Copyright Tracy S. Feldman, All rights reserved