Withered fingers smooth over dents
Scratches in the soft gold
The old woman sighs

The good times
The hard times
The sad times
The best times
The times that made her laugh

The gold band is lifted
To a wrinkled face
Tracing the laughlines
The worry lines
The permanently engraved emotions
Set into her face
The gold is slipped on for a moment,
resting gently next to its jeweled mate
Pressed to painted lips
Leaving a red remembrance

Another sigh and it is gone again
Back on the beloved dead finger
As somber men close the casket

He is still wearing his vow
Lovers connected eternally and forever
Through mortality and the next existence

And she will go to find him soon
To be welcomed home with a kiss