Bernard
Gieske, US
Free
Form
Cranes
for Peace*
In
Memoriam, April 16, 2007
Virginia Tech
33,000
paper cranes
swaying in the breeze
prayers on wings
crying one wish
“Peace in the World”
for 33 victims
a thousand each
one wish
the crane
symbol of life
peace and hope
origami cranes
embracing every fold
taught to Japanese children
according to tradition
January 9, 2008
*This poem
was inspired by the article “Peace of Paper” written by
Diana Marcum and photos by Craig Kohlrus, first appearing in
McClutchy Newpapers in Fresno, Calif. and then
reprinted in the Daily News, Bowling Green,
Kentucky on January 7, 2008. At the Fresno City College’s
annual Asian Fest, Ray Thomas taught people how to fold
cranes, vowing to send 33,000 paper cranes to Virginia Tech
in memory of the massacre that took place there in April of
2007. The cranes are now an art exhibit at the college in
honor of the 33 professors and students who were killed.
For more about those commemorated, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnUN8wts7A
For more
about the art exhibit, click on:
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/143613
A crane is said to live a thousand years and is regarded as
a symbol of life as well as a symbol of peace and hope. In
Japanese tradition a person who folds 1000 origami cranes is
granted a wish.
The words “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the
world.” is the inscription found at the bottom of a statue
of a girl holding a golden crane. Sadako Sasaki was two
years old when Hiroshima was bombed. She died at the age of
12 from “the bomb disease”. When she was 11 she began
folding paper cranes. After her death, her friends continued
folding them and erected this memorial in her honor with
their wish inscribed at the bottom.
To read more about Sadako Sasaki, click on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes
Sadako Sasaki
