the green pendant

with its expectant

gold ring of …

cheapens all the shiny clichés

of transformation

hung tight together for sale

from shelves in the self-help section

It’s the kind of thing a goddess

would wear on her second date

with a love

that definitely is going somewhere.

You’re forgiven

if you forget

for now

the life it holds—

that’s called

the surplus of the present,

for even if

it hung forever

with its expectant, golden …

unopened

you’d have seen enough

perfection

to last for years.