Ocean Spirit

ii. paper cranes

you've always loved

folding origami

plain white paper

sometimes speckled

with painted flowers

into everything

little boxes to hold

our paper dreams

giraffes and frogs for

our paper zoos

flowers and rings for

our paper future

folding paper dreams

into something

so real

that i could

nearly touch it

like the horizon

on a cloudless morning

the churning line

deep cerulean blue

a roiling

siren's call

but those

pretty paper dreams

were just an illusion

worthless scraps

of crumpled paper

splattered with

fake flowers and

fake hopes and

fake realities and

fake what could have beens

and i hate you

for holding me tight

in turquoise shallows

awash in moonlight

for giving me that

jar of seaglass

vivid and bright

for telling me

that you loved me

'cause no one else

had ever told me that

i hate you

for letting me think

that we'd have

a big future

glowing like the sun

endless like the seas

that we'd sail

with our salt stained

paper boat

your favorite origami

were paper cranes

you said

we'd fly on

their winged backs

and travel the world

well i'm sorry

paper boats

ain't meant to sail

paper cranes

ain't meant to fly