Rose-Gold Petals

You showed me the picture;
The ring sparkled with unmatched elegance.
Expensive, no doubt,
And we were not quite ready for that.

But I was your beast, and you were my beauty,
So I sought the perfect ring when you didn't know;
I would not stop searching until I found it:
The diamond set in rose-gold petals.

You spoke of our wedding, and of the colors therein;
You claimed God showed you we would get a house together;
You said you thought I was the one,
And so with great joy I found the ring and bought it.

Six weeks later, you repeated to me the dreadful words,
"I just don't feel the same way that you feel about me."
And I panicked as you slipped away from me again,
Farther away than you had before.

The diamond set in rose-gold petals remains
In a box in a drawer in a room,
Unused, unseen, useless, abandoned.
Forsaken from its intended purpose.

Everything else I have cast aside;
All memories of you I have deleted or destroyed.
Why can't I let go of this one trinket,
The last emblem of my affection for you?

Perhaps it is the hopeless romantic,
The part of me that never fully resigns.
But resign I must, and come to comprehend
That the ring will never sit on your finger.