Richard Schnap’s most recent poem to appear here was Trinity (April 2014).
Ring
By Richard Schnap
It came to me as an immigrant
Debarking from a crowded ship
That carried it far from its birthplace
In a jeweler’s shop in Budapest
Or Prague. He gave it a voice
And when it came to me it said
“Now I am yours,” and, as I grew,
It became sewn into me, as inseparable
As a tattoo. And it told me stories
Of the old world, its tiny hamlets
And ruined castles, its wars
And revolutions, sorrows
And celebrations, and the vague tale
Of a man I never met, a man
Whose portrait could almost be of me,
Wondering where the wind will lead him next.
You had my imagination in the grip of your hand.