I saw the crane all by itself, peering patiently into the silvery river.
As I stared, it transformed: long, female, thights and legs, white and black plumage to hide her delicate parts.
Her face was the most remarkable of it all.
A long, straight nose, piercing black eyes, and skin as white as her plumage, except for her neck that was dark and alluring.
She bathed in the river. Then she stood on her right leg, intent upon guarding the undercurrents of the silver river.
Next to her, just a few inches away, two red ibiscus glistened in the light, of the full moon just at the moment when night had given way to the early morning.
On the other bank of the river, three dolmens stood with deep carved spirals, signifying eons and the eternal mysteries of time.
She stood, unaware that a man had witnessed her metamorphosis. He approached her from behind, and kissed her on her ebony neck.
She startled, not out of fear.
Pleasure surged up throughout her limbs and body, and let the man caress her breast.
He lost himself there, crying for the very first time in years.
Somehow, she knew those sobs, she knew all of his losses, grief, and failures, and let him be himself.
After love-making, the man was astounded, ans tried some smalll talk invain.
The beautiful crane woman looked at him with undesranding , but did not dispense any advice, or sign of recognition.
"Alas," said the man. "You have given me the most beautiful moments in ages, yet you won't answer my queries... and maybe, it is better so."
"She nodded, plucked one of her longest feathers: "Remember," she said. "Always rememeber."
Then, her lips turned into a long beak again. She fluttered her wings and soared above the man, and the river.
The sky looked like a huge, eternal spiral of awe, and the man fell to his knees, humbled and grateful at the same time.
"Whoever you are -- he thought -- thank you for saving my life."
