jade

your mother said to you

jade is better than a diamond
because your mother gave it to you
told you it was your grandmother’s
and it was stolen from her master's wife
during the war, when a bomb killed the old
beautiful fool in her fat mansion.

her husband died somewhere too
and all the servants were there
in this house that no one owned
when bombs were falling

took what didn’t burn
and now it belongs to anyone

and do not worry about mother missing this
for she has plenty of diamonds in her eyes
when she thinks of how beautiful her daughter is
when she wears the beautiful, old jade of an old, dead fool.

(I made up the story
when I was looking at her
over coffee and innuendo
a lull

must have meaning
since it does not have diamonds

she told me she loved diamonds.
then

I waited. Then, I told her the story about her mother.

She didn't like it.)