A Thousand Cranes08/22/07 ©Leona M SeufertThey stand arching their necksSilent and motionless in the morning sun.Elegant beings, white feathers flutteringStatuesque in their simple forms.Fold a thousand origami cranesJapanese legend saysAnd your wish will be grantedYour thousand acts will touch a soul.In the days after our HiroshimaA thousand cranes were folded for our dead.From across the globe they traveledElegant objects to heal our souls.The cranes stand as if poised for flightA multitude ready to take action.We have given them names:Testa, Cruz, Bauer, Essex, Liebherr.The wetlands they inhabit, a water soaked pit.They hunt no fish or wildlifeTheir existence uplifts no soul, Only steel and cement boulders.