The Celestial Sea Voyages

THE COPPER BAND

He found it when he found me.

For months he wore the homemade

Metal band upon his marriage finger,

Thinking it was for another;

The perfect decoy.

She wondered: The Copper Band?

He mislaid it for a while,

But then it was found and back on his marriage finger.

When asked, he could in all honesty say:

“It is for another.”

But she knew he was beginning to wonder

If it had a significance for them.

She liked to see him wearing it: The Copper Band,

Interesting and mysterious upon his slim hand,

Lending dignity in manhood.

The Copper Band -- intrinsic denting and organic waver,

Matching their unlikely union in solid possibility.

And at their sad, unwanted parting

He placed it with ceremony upon her little finger.

How strange, and yet prophetic

When it slipped from her hand just hours later.

“Perhaps this is meant to be,” they wondered.

Alone and grieving, it reappears in the bottom of her bag,

Old friend returning, constant companion

On their extraordinary journey.

She is bold. This cannot be taken from them; old friend.

She slides it upon her wedding finger.

She likes it there, The Copper Band,

Associated with healing, joy and the sacred number 7.