by Len Krisak<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You\u2019re more than welcome to its tiny stone<\/p>\n
(Not even half-a-carat) mounted on<\/p>\n
A band you\u2019re just as welcome to as well.<\/p>\n
Now that the one who wore it once has gone<\/p>\n
To ashes, treat this ring as if on loan,<\/p>\n
And not a thing that anyone can own\u2014<\/p>\n
A pledge that you might pawn, but never sell.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As heirlooms go, it isn\u2019t much\u2014a jewel<\/p>\n
So piddling that it almost can\u2019t be seen.<\/p>\n
But for its task it served as certain witness<\/p>\n
That the one who wore it had said yes.<\/p>\n
So now its meager flash and dullish sheen<\/p>\n
Need not be held against it as to fitness<\/p>\n
For a symbol of a love that\u2019s dual.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As for the future, who can ever tell?<\/p>\n
Perhaps there\u2019ll come a day when some fine son<\/p>\n
May ask to have it when his mother\u2019s done<\/p>\n
With any use for it, to cast the spell<\/p>\n
He wishes will convince some hoped-for wife<\/p>\n
To say her yes, and wear it all her life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Len Krisak graduated from the University of Michigan in 1970 and took his MA from Brandeis <\/span>University in 1974. In Massachusetts, he worked as a textbook editor and English teacher at <\/span>Brandeis, Northeastern University, Bentley University, and Stonehill College before retiring in <\/span>2010 to write poems and translate.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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