Shrine

At the shrine of St. Francis
he slips the ring on her first finger -
a memory, not a promise.
He shoulders his backpack,
returns to his home in the snow.

She waits on the men
in the raincloud city where she was born -
twists the ring on her finger,
through sweet words and hands on her back,
until she loses its pieces to the bent floorboard.

Reviews

[I Am Svetlana]

Interesting piece here. I pictured a man coming home from war, but the woman decides to take her ring off before he returns because she gets the notion that he isn't coming back. Sad, but well written!