Paper Plane

Cut from paper, this fragile pair
Promised one another to tie the knot
When they grow up, he would declare
“I’ll make you mine” was what he said a lot
And they lived beside the lane where the paper plane took off

Before he left, she clasped her papery hands
And bid him good-bye
“Don’t forget the future and our plans”
He whispered in her ear his sweet reply
And jumped on the paper plane, flying it through the rain

Ninety days and ninety nights he was gone
Her pencil-drawn eyes always searched the bleak sky
Sitting patiently from sunset to dawn
So that May turned to July
And the paper plane fast became a thing of the past

On the ninety-first morning, her small heart
Cracked and crumbled and broke into two
As stars hinted that they would always be apart
Finally believing those rumours which were untrue
And moved away from the main gate where the paper plane used to wait

One day the rumour came
That he had married a girl of clay
Distracted, and from a deep sense of shame
She wandered away
Into a trap of scissors, which blew her away in the direction of the paper plane

He jumped out with a wad of tape
And stitched her pieces back
Putting her into the right shape
His tears flowing out as black
As the soot from which he had written her name on the paper plane

“Where were you” she cried
“I went to make you a home, don’t you recall?”
And bent on his off-white knee: “I’ll let you decide”
Then from his pocket he pulled a piece of her heart, so small
Gently she took the piece; her thin fingers finally touched his; so that the paper plane became flat and was released

“How will I take you to fly now?”
Her heart was whole and so her smile defeated the sun
As she took his hand, and made him avow
“That you’ll truly make me yours and our lives have just begun
I don’t need a paper plane to make me fly through the lights
As long as we hold hands, I won’t be afraid of heights”