Poem: "unfolding wings"

[ysabetwordsmith]

marina_bonomi asked for a poem about the origami mage and a blind beggar.  This one is a likely candidate for the beginning of the story arc.  I wish I could draw ... it would make an adorable illustration.  Sponsored by marina_bonomi.

[EDIT 2/9/11: marina_bonomi helped with the coin research, yesterday's result having been imperfect. So tael has been replaced by wen. I was aiming for a small-denomination coin, and Chinese money has a deep and intricate history. People would carry "strings of cash" with the cheap, square-holed coins threaded onto twine.]

EDIT 4/12/11: See an adorable sketch of this scene drawn by meeksp as part of her crowdfunded illustration project.

unfolding wings

the blind beggar sits
on a sunny street corner
folding paper cranes

two wen  will buy one
to take up to the temple
and leave with a prayer

a little girl stops
to watch the old man working
what seems like magic

she tugs mother's sleeve
the string is untied, coins freed
and given over

in her tiny hands
paper crane opens white wings
and bursts into flight