I was really tired when I met Kenji,
Nurse Yasunaga brought me out to the porch,
when I saw him,
nine years old, small for his age,
with a thin face and shining dark eyes,
Soon we talked like old friends,
Kenji is alone,
his parents died,
both of us have leukemia,
he got it from his mother,
though he wasn't born yet,
and he says he is going to die,
knowing his condition gets worse as the days go by.
What is it like to be ill,
to have no family,
I can't imagine it,
Kenji is just brave that is all.
So I sent him a crane from the prettiest paper for luck,
and continued making more cranes for mine,
Three hundred and eighty-nine...
Three hundred and ninety...