Brooch

A hundred miles
to where we spent
the rest of your life.
Did you call me here?  Why
today?

Twenty years
since you wished for
your wife, the unattainable
emerald, beyond a teacher's pocket:

White cameo kitten
in green mist.
I knew it on sight
today.

Estate Jewelry.  Some son traded
Mom's baubles
to the dealer, including
the brooch.

Twenty years
on a wealthier breast;
just displayed for sale
today.

Bargain price.  Snatched
up, in seconds.
Dealer will never
know what he sold me.

Seven years
I have mourned you.
Your fleshless kiss warms my lips;
emerald cat purrs silently to my heart
today.

(c)Patsy Anne Bickerstaff          2009