Source: US Dept of Agriculture*
Red delicious, the color
of fall, of the garnet ring
I used to wear, dreaming
myself into fathomless
depths, where flashes
of amber mingled with
the sweetness
of late summer
cherries—the colors,
I thought, of a midnight sky,
viewed through a glass
of Gamay. Or, perhaps, a Merlot...
No matter.
I treasure the shawl, knit
with my own grateful hands
in a pattern of diamond lace.
But the ring? One day
a jeweler shattered the stone
and replaced it with one
dark as sin, and opaque
as the heart of the long-ago man
who presented it to me.
So I pawned it.
Now, by the fire, in my red
woolen shawl, I consider
the ring and the man
and I think:
Good riddance to all bad apples.
(c) 2017, by Hannah Six
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