"ringless" poems
I was doing research in Hubei
Where they executed Yu,
That deity soldier glorified
By Buddhists, Taoists too,
I sat perusing manuscripts
That dated from the Ming,
And came across a reference
About Yu’s finger ring.
A ring of gold so broad that it
Would fit a peasant’s wrist,
For Guan Yu was a mighty man
His ring, an amethyst,
Set round with groups of diamonds
It was lost the day, they said,
That Sun Quan had ordered them
To lop off Guan Yu’s head.
They lost it for a thousand years
It turned up with the Ming,
Was lost again in battle with
That mighty force, the Qing,
I’d heard it round the market place
A whisper, now and then,
That ring, it might have surfaced
In the village of Maicheng.
I scoured the streets and alleyways
For signs of old antiques,
Researching as I went, I walked
Around the town for weeks,
I found a backstreet corner shop
One night, and open late,
Run by a dodgy Chinaman
A total reprobate.
He had links to the Triads, they
Would come into the shop,
A shifty group of gangsters with
Their stolen goods to pop,
From where I sat with manuscripts
Up on the second floor,
I’d look straight down the staircase
Watch them come in through the door.
One day they brought in a bundle
Tied up in a burlap sack,
Threw it down on the counter, said:
‘What do you make of that?’
Fang Zhang then opened the parcel and
He pulled out a giant hand,
The flesh the texture of leather with
A monstrous golden band.
The ring was almost immoveable
The hand, with fingers spread,
Could grasp a maiden around the waist
Or crush a warrior’s head,
I held my breath as the Triad tried
To disengage the thing,
And all the while the diamonds flashed
On that massive golden ring.
Fang Zhang paid over a block of notes
That looked more like a brick,
There must have been a million Yuan
From what I saw of it,
The Triad left and I caught my breath
Fang Zhang had pulled it off,
He threw the hand in a ******* bin
And then I left the shop.
He hid the ring as I walked on through
I had to get some air,
I’d caught a glimpse of a famous ring,
A thing I couldn’t share,
They’d say it didn’t exist, that I
Was dreaming, if I tried,
They thought that it had been lost to view
The day that Yu had died.
I went back down the following day
The Police were there in force,
They stood out front and barred the way
From normal ***********
They told me through an interpreter
Of the ****** of Fang Zhang,
His face was black, for around his neck
Was a massive, ringless hand!
David Lewis Paget
(Pronunciation: Guan Yu - Gwon you
Hubei - Who - bay; Sun Quan - Sun Chu-arn
Qing - Ching; Maicheng - My - cheng
Fang Zhang - Fang Shjang (soft J))
Oct 26, 2013
Oct 26, 2013 at 9:26 PM UTC
I have worn a ring
Ever since I remember the first.
I woke upto a lit’le golden shine
On my li’lest finger.
I grew into a walkable,
And it got tighter.
Then they removed it
and gave me a diamond studded one on my 8th birthday.
I wore it on my index.
I grew into my teens
And it got tighter.
Then I got outta teens.
And it got tighter all the same.
Then a brown haired chap took pity on me
And proposed me.
With a ring.
A silver one.
I wore it on my ring finger.
Then it saw me for a long time.
And it got tighter.
And I separated direction from
The brown haired chap.
So, I dropped the ring
And whoosh it flew into the tracks
with the faintest bounce.
Then, I was a woman.
The ringless finger ached my periphery.
I thought of my diamond ring .
And I sold it next morning at the Jewellers.
I got a Platinum ring, after a lotta confused psychology to take the decision.
I felt a pauper signboard afar.
I wore it on my middle finger.
And, I smoked a cigarette
And I drank ***
With the platinum shining on my middle finger.
Then I took pity on a black eyed fellow
And slept with him in a drunken state.
Morning I woke up with my bright sneer dimming down.
My ring was gone.
The black eyed chap stole it.
My platinum ring.
I never wore a ring
Ever again.
I smoke the cigarette
And I drink the ***
With none a ring.
I will, Will to be buried without
Any of the Same.
Dec 6, 2014
Dec 6, 2014 at 7:54 AM UTC
Saw you today
first time in months
you hurried by
got something to hide
like when I walked in on you
sticking your knee to another woman's
like glue
ringless married man
you didn't have a clue
I stood there
the energy between the two
of you could be felt
And suddenly you were aware
so you stood up like a mole
looking out of its hole
it's what I need
not what I want
like when I heard other women
on a guy's answering machine
Right near your office
she's been installed
you're no longer bald
short brown hairs now cover
half your head
like a newly sprouted lawn
trying to impress?
I think you've already caught,
your catch has been bought
I can't compete
I sensed this last year
from her in e-mails to you
"oh you're so funny"
"oh, that was so great"
must of been an exciting meeting
for you to get such a wet greeting
Wish I didn't care
Just forget him
they say
I guess today
is supposed to be the day
Aug 7, 2012
Aug 7, 2012 at 10:32 PM UTC
One almost tore away my wall
One almost said he chooses me
Another almost made me fall
One almost finally set me free
But almost only counts
in horseshoes and hand grenades
Fool's gold has luster
and sweet are borrowed serenades
You can't call it love
I'll call your bluff
because almost is only almost
and that's not enough
A roller coaster only climbing
missing the train by a minute's timing
A frozen bud in a snap of cold
An unfinished novel, story untold
A sentence fragment
A muddled accent
A pantomimed kiss
A swing and a miss
A pencil sketch
A warm up stretch
A suspended chord
A ringless lord
A lightning bolt, no rain or thunder
A child at play, no sense of wonder
Almost only counts
in horseshoes and hand grenades
Fool's gold has luster
and sweet are borrowed serenades
You can't call it love
I'll call your bluff
because almost is only almost
and that's not enough
I almost love you too
I almost let you in
I almost wish I was the one
I can almost begin again
And even if the words only almost rhyme
I only almost care by the end of the lines
While I could almost forget, in truth I find
that I will always remember how you were almost mine
Apr 17, 2016
Apr 17, 2016 at 5:27 PM UTC
When we met, you were an eye in the storm
Stressed, hired at the last minute and expected to perform
without training or experience in front of the big male bosses
You gave me comfort and little endearments
a well dressed if not too handsome man
in tight fighting pressed pants and shirts
And I took notice as your gaze lingered
and your ringless finger waved at me
causing me to wonder
But now I know you're not all that
You are ringless so you can flirt and I've seen you in action
a couple of times after you tired of me because you
always seem to tire of us and go "home"
and now you no longer seek me out or take much notice
except in passing or on accident and I thought it was me
but it's not, it's never me with a guy like you
You went to the next and the next
And there are now layers of them padding your world
and I am on the outside
One layer new in your office to make the year bright
such a pretty young face infuses your world with life
and you seem more energetic and have let what's left of your
hair grow out around the lower half of your skull
in a thin layer of fuzz to remind everyone that you are
still a man with a body that produces enough brown colored
hair to still be visible and not a plucked chicken with nothing
Forget him, I am told and have tried so hard to do
but I don't like being discarded like my mother tossed me aside
it brings it all up again, all the pain and desperation and self hatred
Sitting in the silence where you want a presence
Being unnoticed when you want attention
But I did better without her, felt better without her
and if I could survive that, I will be OK now
Aug 10, 2012
Aug 10, 2012 at 9:34 AM UTC
Your ringless finger misled me,
but I can't blame you.
Months ago, wondering, flirtations,
gaps of time, trying to forget,
going back to take the drink of you.
Truth should have pushed me off this horse.
What does love feel like?
Inside, the child is still alone,
waiting for her mother.
Watching for a sign of her,
Bereft as wind howls through her empty heart.
What does love taste like?
If I knew, I wouldn't lie like this,
Watching and waiting like a hungry cat hunting for your glance,
Like an ignored dog, wagging it's tail at the slightest sign of attention.
May 31, 2012
May 31, 2012 at 9:46 AM UTC
Then there’s the attire.
You spend hours checking yourself out
in the mirror, the drool across the floor,
tight white of your dress
and the ******* smothered in lace.
Step back, look at that face.
The realisation seeping in
like blood into a bandage
that you are almost ready.
A cast of a hundred or so
seen-once-in-two-years
with eyes on your eyes,
the cold finger ringless for
just a few seconds more.
Here it is then, the moment when
you settle down
as a child clambering into bed
for a parent-read tale.
You have chosen this man
with this face and these hands
and he will do.
The search cannot be continued.
In one month, an argument.
In one year, a child
after the umpteenth round
of relatives' questions.
The story writes itself
and oh how plain it seems,
the predictability like gone-off milk
makes you want to gag.
But, you say, it’s how it goes.
How it goes.
The woman asks if it’s the one.
You’re flummoxed for a second -
the dress or the man?
Yes, you reply.
I think so.
Dec 30, 2017
Dec 30, 2017 at 6:43 PM UTC
i still have your favorite ice cream flavor in my notes
i don't want to forget it
just in case
I still linger on your laugh in the moments off guard, coming across your face on another's page
just in case
i remind myself of the curve of your voice, the tears on your cheeks, and the bulk of porta 800 in my pocket
just in case
i remember the smell of your skin, your ringless fingers laced in mine
just in case
I still hold the breath of our last "i love you"'s in the pit of my stomach
just in case
just in case you change your mind
just in case you come home.
Apr 4, 2022
Apr 4, 2022 at 7:50 AM UTC