Arya made a paper bird
with sharp wings
and a neat black beak.
Jiya made a red ribbon
go around a cardboard tube.
“That is not a bird,” Arya said.
“No,” said Jiya.
“It is a red going-around.”
Arya’s bird stood on the windowsill.
Jiya’s red going-around
rolled off the table,
crossed the floor,
and disappeared under the sofa.
At bedtime, Daddy found it.
He tied the ribbon
to the pull-chain of Jiya’s lamp.
Now Jiya could reach the light
without climbing on her pillow.
Arya looked at her paper bird.
It was still a very good bird.
Jiya pulled the ribbon.
The room turned gold.
“My going-around
knows how to turn on the sun,” she said.
Arya moved her bird
into the circle of light.