Golden Wedding

His anniversary gift, exquisite thing
she gazes at and gratefully admires,
adorns her finger, turquoise opal ring
of old antiquity and quiet fires.
They celebrate their fiftieth year today
though only forty-nine years married. They're
anticipating by twelve months the day
he will no longer be alive to share.
The opal tokens sorrow and October -
the end and the beginning of their love:
the Hallowe'en ball where they met each other,
the days remaining being not enough.
This opal, then, a twofold message sends
of rapture and of heartbreak as it ends.

Dorothy Pope

Photo: Domonique Davenport