Origami

Origami

I wonder at the trickery of it

Yet there is no attempt to deceive

Two dimensions

In one plane of being

The paper being plain in itself

The flattest sheet

Twisted round

Tucked and creased

Folded into shape

Its razor-sharp edges

Turned in on itself

And back inside again 

Flatness transposed

By force of skill

And gentle sorcery

Into lines and angles

Squares, triangles

And dodecahedrons

Living trapezoids

Giving strength and articulation

Suggesting shape and shadows

Buried deep within the paper 

A bird, a rabbit, a frog

Creatures which are not there

In any normal sense

Suddenly appear

And have life and depth

Their heads erect, alert

Sitting upon the hand of their creator

Between the dextrous fingers

Of the manipulator 

Held for a fleeting moment

For wonder and admiration

Before slowly allowed to unfold

Before my very eyes

Vanishing whence they came

Into an empty page of nothing

The faintest marks upon the paper

The only evidence

They ever existed

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012