Two Brass Rings

Two brass rings (two brass rings)
One is yours if you want it
Two brass rings (two brass rings)
I won't walk the road he walked

They sat in a tin in Mama's wardrobe
Wrapped in a church program from '89
One was his and one was hers
He left his on the windowsill one night
I found them when we cleared the house
Green on the edges, light in my hand
I strung them on a lace around my neck
And carried them to this yard, to this man

No big stone, no diamond
Just the ones that stayed

Two brass rings (two brass rings)
One is yours if you want it
Two brass rings (two brass rings)
I won't walk the road he walked

Two brass rings (hey!)
One is yours (hey!)
Two brass rings
Say you'll stay

Two brass rings (two brass rings)

Two brass rings (two brass rings)

He didn't laugh at the green on the metal
He polished them with salt and lemon
Tried the small one on his finger
Too tight, so he wears it on a chain
Said, "I don't need to prove I'm different
Just watch me stay through a bad year"
His mother cooked, my aunties sang
And the whole yard knew that we were here

Two brass rings (two brass rings)
Two brass rings (two brass rings)

One is yours if you want it
Two brass rings (two brass rings)
I won't walk the road he walked

I won't walk the road he walked

I won't walk the road he walked

Mama wore hers till the day we buried her
Never took it off, never called him back
I don't carry these to remember the leaving
I carry them to change what they meant

Two brass rings (two brass rings)
One is yours, and you kept it
Two brass rings (two brass rings)
I won't walk the road he walked

Two brass rings