And So It Goes

And So It Goes
-Laurie Benson©

"Don't invest in rings,"
she said
and showed me her
swollen, bent
knuckles
that were possibly
in my future,
and so it goes.

My wedding band
size six,
I wore less than
a year, because it
no longer fits,
but sits
in a graveyard
of beautiful
rings, various
sizes with embedded
jewels,
twists, turns,
and spirals...my favorite.

"If you don't use it,
you will lose it,"
I've been told and
use them
I do

sometimes with
pain so intense
they throb
then swell,
and finally bend
in the end.
That's how it goes.

A manicure or
being fingerprinted
even
shaking hands
at church
can be endured,
a whimper heard
when a hearty
grasp
makes me gasp.

The things I love,
like

cutting glass,
playing the piano
fast,
crocheting the
delicate edge of
a soft, cotton
blanket,
braiding hair
and writing
with flair,
bowing the cello
so the mellow sound lingers....
ah,

fingers.