Origami Swan

You lifted your father's burden above your head.

It stayed there for a second, then it crushed you whole.

Flat underneath the wheels, you waited days until

your breath came back. You filled your lungs with mighty song

and let the strangest note escape. It melted glass,

it shattered steel, it strengthened both the tracks

and turned each broken wheel and saw you stand up straight.

Emerging from this homespun chaos, you were two

dimensional, a sliver of your former self.

Paper thin, not seen sideways, you folded your body

into a hand-made origami swan and beat

your wings, a farewell to this world, and flew,

frail silhouette, in front of that late evening’s sky.

You flew until you could be seen no more, no more.