The Ring

the ring he showed to me.

I see it in dreams and visions--

it just won't let me be.

It brings questions to my mind--

torments me, day and night.

I don't know what it means--

this ring is my mind's plight.

He was my friend at work:

a Buddhist man named Dave.

We had no contact, otherwhere;

he lived too far away.

We laughed, we joked, we talked--

I considered him a close friend.

Sensitive, smart, and fun--

not like other men.

Many things, we talked about--

some conversations deep.

I was comfortable in his presence;

thought this was really neat.

But that all changed, in just one flash;

it changed everything.

Something shifted in my life,

when he showed me the ring.

We'd talked of his beliefs;

things sacred in his life.

We'd spoken of some rituals--

talked of wrong and right.

We'd talked about his culture--

compared his beliefs to mine.

We spoke of meditations

and ways of feeling fine.

Closer, day by day,

our friendship grew and grew.

When either needed an ear,

it was the other we went to.

We shared each other's comfort zone,

we soothed the other's sting.

But all of that changed,

when he showed me the ring.

A pretty golden ring, which

must never be removed.

Coral stone set in the ring,

with swirls and curliques.

But Dave told me to look closer.

an elephant was there.

Sacred to his people;

he wanted me to share.

He took off this sacred ring

and placed it in my hand.

I searched within the coral,

turned it over, and

Suddenly, the swirls

took on another form:

The ears, the eyes, the trunk, I saw--

an elephant was born.

A feeling came upon me

I cannot explain.

I looked in Dave's deep brown eyes--

something swirled within my brain.

The elephant seemed to step right through

the coral on that thing.

Something changed inside of me,

when he showed me that ring.

Many months have passed,

since I've seen or spoken to him.

And, now, in dreams and visions,

I seem to see the things he's doing.

I see, within my mind,

the Ahm, from his tattoo.

In front of that, the elephant,

from the coral, stepping through.

Dave's eyes haunt me,

when I see these in my dreams.

I wake up confused and lost,

for I don't know what it means.

It wasn't supposed to leave his hand,

for it is a sacred thing.

Yet he placed it in mine, to study;

now, I'm consumed by the ring.