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Four Poems by canelle irmas:
Thousands of Paper Cranes and a Little Black Box
I want to fold up all the broken into paper cranes,
Each one a different shade of crazy,
Every color of colored paper,
Fold a thousand paper cranes,
And make a wish
To take all the bad away,
Put all the paper cranes into a little box,
Close the lid from all the terrible things,
Hold it close, hold it,
Fold another thousand paper cranes,
Make another wish
To keep them safe,
In the little black box held close to the chest,
Fold another thousand paper cranes,
Fold another thousand paper cranes,
Fold another thousand paper cranes,
All the luck in the world put into this little black box,
And the world itself emptied out,
Everyone but one
To keep the box,
Hold it,
Protect it,
Make sure none of the horror gets in,
Keep out the nightmares and the demons and the guns and and the knives and the blood and the sharp things and the needles and the razor blades and the nooses and the roaring cars and the roaring engines of the roaring planes and the cliffs without railings and the open windows and the fragile bridges and the eating fire and all the tragedies and the travesties and everything that doesn’t have a place in a lucky little black box full of paper cranes.