I lived a quiet but active life, packed with brilliant sparkle and warm shine,
Like devoted lovers strolling under the captive moon, sometime after nine.

I was the manager of a jewelry store, with a number of interesting duties,
Like the duty of the fashionable redbirds, to linger in lush, ripe fruit trees.

I dwelt on a peaceful street with my family, and we hadn't lived there long,
In a house facing the mellowed sun, and a wild variegated butterfly throng.

It was a gracious older home, and we'd been given a housewarming party,
Like the happiest occasions of our lives, when we all laugh loud and hearty!

Life had lately been total excitement, because after years of saving money,
I had bought myself a ring of rubies, like golden bees storing golden honey.

And I had received a huge employee discount, so my ring was impressive,
Like intense rubies in a scarlet sunset, as invading night looms oppressive!

I wore my beautiful ring constantly, and I also received compliments on it,
Like the flowery, scented lanes of nature, where charm has become habit.

The sun rose smiling every day, as when summertime dreams come true,
For while wearing my red, red rubies, imperative I, could not ever be blue!

One evening I was rinsing dinner dishes, in readiness for the dishwasher,
Enjoying sunset views from the window, and afternoon's crowning honors.

Shortly before I finished up, my slick ring suddenly slipped off my finger,
And shot down the swirling drain, like a rainbow without a cause to linger!

In shock I turned off the running water, and called for a 24 hour plumber,
Who took the pipes apart and couldn't find it, like blackest night thunder.

Heartbroken, all that I could do, was somehow adjust to an apparent loss,
Like a loss on the strategic chessboard, as an opponent moves crisscross!

Sparkle was gone from my sad days, like charcoal amassing on vivid skies,
And it was difficult to get a smile from me, so typical of sudden goodbyes.

Despondency seemed to follow me, like intense blues which tend to linger,
As the moon lingers during glittery sable nights, because she is a dreamer.

One blush dawn as I was awakening, the tangerine sun was at the window,
And light was flashing all around the room, sparkling in the morning's glow.

For all the precious windows were like crystal, reminding me of lost jewels,
As beauty entered in at all the glass panes, glinting as if in strange rituals!

Could it be my treasured, valuable ruby, had not been lost to me after all,
But had only been misplaced, leaving its fair memory, in the sunrise halls?

No others could see this light show, as beauty's in the eye of the beholder,
And I was the one who loved its beauty best, like silence when you're older.

My ruby still is with me sparkling, through citrine days and the opal nights,
Varying with the hour, even lending the stars and my eyes, flashing lights!