“And left the vivid air signed with their honor.”  —Stephen Spender

What if you knew you had to change
the powers of the earth, the world,
or at least one world power, and all
you had to work with was a bit of paper,
maybe some string, a pen, a box of paints?
What could you do, what kind of a flap
could you make that would matter any more
than the flap of a butterfly’s wing?
What if they told you to go fly a kite?

What if you had a wish, very dear,
for the health of someone or something
you loved as much as the whole world?
What if you heard a thousand paper cranes
could help? Or what if you never did?
What if you were making painted kites instead?
Would the kites be enough? Would they do the job?
 
What if a friend, or two, or maybe a few hundred
helped you with all that paper and paint?
What if you found some common ground
and strung those thousand paper kites, from tree
to tree and pole to pole, where everyone could see?
What if the kites fluttered like prayer flags, offering
their blessings on the wind to all living things?
 
What if you weren’t alone? What if people
by the thousands in a thousand other places were all
hoping and working together, all with the same will?
What if it really happened? What if it were true?
What if it kept on happening, for good and for all?
What if a flutter like the flap of a butterfly’s wing
really could change the weather of the world?

—Elizabeth Cooper