Unpaired

To all my unpaired earrings:

Have I disappointed you, somehow?

Because I feel like I have

You look at me all radiant and incomplete

From the top of my dresser

Collecting dust

With all the things I don't know where to place

And I cannot put you away.

I gave you these, my mother said

They are of precious gold

Of my embodied history

Of true value.

Carelessness is a deadly sin, my dear

You were always guilty of.

Around the world I've met

Tens of mothers, at every corner

They told me

Your face shines bright without adornments

You always carry the gifts of forgiveness

There's beauty

In the chaotic way

You move around the world.

You are absorbed

In your furiously audacious attempt at life!

And no,

There are no exceptions to that.