Mother wore a cameo,

a pendant on an ornate gold choker,

a wedding gift, a Gibson Girl

in profile on carved shell.

After a few years of marriage,

enough time for me to remember it,

she took it off, and it disappeared like her

own early, unattached years.

I found it again soon after she died.

Found it tarnished but intact

in the back of her drawer, inside

a plush, crushed red velvet case.

Shaped like a scallop,

unopened for years.