and again
The day the galaxy came off my hand I couldn’t cry.
I didn’t have an ocean in me.
You really have to stop wearing that ring, my sister said. I looked at it. Oh. Yeah. The ring and I regarded each other.
Relief. Just get it away from me. Everybody off.
My again, on my own.
I had been pulling it on and off my cold finger for the last week. I’d pull it off and look at it, raise it to all the different kinds of light, it’s half-sphere of diamonds glittering angrily. I could spell things in the sparks. Betrayal, away, betrayal, away.
Free.
Relief, the day I took it off.
I have no desire to wear this again, I said to myself.
I laid it in my sister’s hand. Take it, I said, I don’t want to see it anymore. All right, she said, and put it in her jewelry box, closing the drawer with a snap.
I thought I might cry, then, or like someone might think I should.
I didn’t feel anything but a sudden leaping exultation, so I didn’t cry.
My empty hand.
I didn’t have an ocean in me.
You really have to stop wearing that ring, my sister said. I looked at it. Oh. Yeah. The ring and I regarded each other.
Relief. Just get it away from me. Everybody off.
My again, on my own.
I had been pulling it on and off my cold finger for the last week. I’d pull it off and look at it, raise it to all the different kinds of light, it’s half-sphere of diamonds glittering angrily. I could spell things in the sparks. Betrayal, away, betrayal, away.
Free.
Relief, the day I took it off.
I have no desire to wear this again, I said to myself.
I laid it in my sister’s hand. Take it, I said, I don’t want to see it anymore. All right, she said, and put it in her jewelry box, closing the drawer with a snap.
I thought I might cry, then, or like someone might think I should.
I didn’t feel anything but a sudden leaping exultation, so I didn’t cry.
My empty hand.