Poem: The Paper Airplane Letter

To the man whose chest burns with the fire of anger
and whose words all turn into thorns,
a paper airplane fluttered down.
“It must be painful to be so hot.”
When the snowflake carried along with it
fell onto his heart and hissed,
the anger turned into steam.

To the girl who thinks from morning till night
about why she is the way she is, until her heart feels like a heavy stone,
a paper airplane fluttered down.
“It is fine for you to just be you.”
In clumsy, scribbled handwriting,
just as Misuzu Kaneko said,
it is fine that everyone is different.

On the night you sent your loved one to the sky
and soaked your pillow with tears,
a paper airplane landed softly by your bedside, you who carry such sorrow.
“I will keep your tears in the sky’s pocket.”
Though the tears have not yet stopped,
that single drop of tear
rode the paper airplane and returned to the sky.