the secret of the lacquer box

NaPoWriMo Day #2

At day's end -- the work all done --
silk rustles as she reaches 
and retrieves a lacquer box
from the nook in her garden.

Her fingers pause on the lid,
lines of gold on glossy black,
and she smiles at the motif
of a flock of cranes at play.


Dragon's daughter lifts the lid.
Only she knows the secret:

the box holds the memory
of lands she has never seen.

Two koi fish circle the bridge
between the pond and the path.
She steps as high as the cranes,
the sky whirls around her feet.