the girl wants a ring
Tuesday afternoon at 2:42 pm
her favorite shop
that sells the cheap, glittery rings
made from metal that turns green on the finger
is closed
for some unknown reason
perhaps the pounding rain
the girl wants a ring
she came home from school that morning
permission granted by a phone call to her father
small cough and nothing much going on
no one to drive her home except the nondescript taxi
called through outer space
with no sign painted on the door
the girl wants a ring
and now she’s bored
feels low wants something
she has a picture in her mind
of a slender band on the sturdy fingers
of her paternal inheritance
but the shop is closed
and I think,
good, why should she have what she wants,
just because?
who does she think she is?
she needs to learn I won’t always get her
what she wants…
and as the acrid liquor works it’s way
through my Being
I search in my mind
in my heart
for OM AH HUM in white red and blue
and OM MANI PADME HUM in rainbow light
I focus there
in the Silence and Stillness that emanates from them
and let my heart
break
the girl wants a ring
of course she does
I suggest the place where Tibetan goods are sold
those very rainbow-colored mantras
wooden malas and ones made from glass beads
heavy silver earrings
bright, strange patchwork garments
bracelets made from precious stones
and they have rings
no, she says, and we debate
why is her shop closed?
what are the hours?
should we call them?
and I say, sweetie,
the shop is closed
we can look in the Tibetan place
and you might find a ring
the girl wants a ring
so we sit in silence
I watch her discomfort
the darkness smoldering
around her head and her chest
covered by a pale blue sweatshirt
her mouth closed tight
the rain beating on the outside of the car window
a thin steam starting to accumulate on the inside
and then she says,
ok
the girl wants a ring
and she found a thin gold band
with a small blue stone
adjustable to fit her finger
not too prominent for a teenaged girl
and the resulting lightness
in her face and in her feet
enclosed by worn white sneakers
made my Soul purr like a tumbling kitten
for the rest of the day
