The Ring

It lingers on the mantle, inert, unheeding

A witness to an oath we never fulfilled

I forgo its weight, I dare not wear

Yet cannot exile it from here

Onyx shell with a violet heart

Sits on the mantle where our secrets hide

I don’t wear you, I let you stay

A shadow of the life we threw away

It bore a partner, as I once did

Marred in a box I’ll never see

A mimic glints where it used to rest

On the hand that holds what cannot be me

Onyx shell with a violet heart

Sits on the mantle where our secrets hide

I don’t wear you, I let you stay

A shadow of the life we threw away

I cannot bury it, cannot unchain

A relic of love turned specter of pain

Time creeps onward, I remain

Counting the pulse of what’s been slain

Onyx shell with a violet heart

Sits on the mantle where our secrets hide

I don’t wear you, I let you stay

A shadow of the life we threw away

A ring once ours, now only my scar of gloom