Mystery

Last night I went to a concert at a church in Camberwell to listen to 16th century choral works by Byrd, Morley and Weelkes to name a few.

*ignores puzzled faces*

One of the performers was my dear Papa and before the show, he discovered something very odd.

Under a park bench in the quiet, manicured gardens of the basilica, sitting side by side, he found two gold rings. One a plain gold band with an engraving on the inside, the other more ornate and filigreed. They looked very much like the wedding rings of a single couple.

Pondering the strangeness of the find, Dad picked them up to examine them further and it became even stranger: the engraving on the man's ring was marked with the date of my Father's first birthday.



...



Why were they there?

The engraved date speaks of a wedding during the Second World War, maybe a romance blossoming during time on leave, or convalescence. In Australia or Europe, Africa or the Americas there is no indication. Perhaps the bands of a couple escaping the horrors of war, or the mark of a more mundane, but still 60 year-long relationship.

Possibly they are the rings of two lovers never able to speak or openly recognise their love - a lifetime of regret and sadness laid out on sacred ground.

Maybe death has finally caught the ring bearers and the gesture is that of a relative gently setting them free. Or perhaps it is the mark of a divorce, the breakdown of a family, the end of a lifetime's era.

I have no true idea as to why those rings were there, but the possibilities are endless and most likely tinged with sadness. I hope the owners of them approve and that the rings find their way into hands that will care for them.