December 2004  

Origami Grace    © by    Katherine W. Barr
 

No longer the sixth grade’s fastest runner,
Sadako filled her hospital days
making paper cranes. She believed

if she made 1,000 cranes, symbols
of longevity, she would defeat
“the atom bomb disease.”

When leukemia took Sadako,
she had made 644.
Her classmates made more than enough

to reach 1,000.
My six-year-old daughter and I read
of Sadako’s race for life, and loved her.

We made cranes in every
color and decorated our Christmas tree.
Some of those cranes still fly

on our trees each year.
Tomorrow my daughter must tell
her husband, my sensitive son-in-law,

his still young mother’s brain tumor
is growing faster than ever.
One of her “eight months” is already gone.

Seven months should be more than enough
time for my daughter and me to make
1,000 cranes.

Previously published in the North Carolina Poetry Society's
Pinesong: Awards 2004. Used with the poet's permission.
NOTICE: The poem on this page is copyright © by the poet.