question:  How does the meaning of the engraved ring change throughout the story?
context: HOMECOMING BY MIGUEL HIDALGO What lasts forever? They had no place in the dust-caked, tired body, yet there they were, seeking, always seeking—searching the clear horizon, and never seeming to find what they sought. They soaked it into their pores and drank deeply of it, feeling life going once more through their veins. Refreshed and momentarily content, he sat staring into the dying fire, seeing the bright glowing coals as living fingers clutching at the wood in consuming embrace, taking all and returning nothing but ashes. Images began to appear, drawn from inexhaustible files, wherein are kept all thoughts, past, present, and future.... "Oh, a ring, and it's a diamond, too!" "It's for you; so long as you wear it, I'll come back, even from the dead, if need be. She held the ring up to the light and read aloud, "It is forever." She took off the locket she wore about her neck and held it up to the shimmering light, letting it spin at the end of its chain. It was in the shape of a star, encrusted with emeralds, with one large ruby in the center. When he opened it, he found a picture of her in one side, and in the other a picture of the children. His cold fingers found the locket, making a little bulge under his uniform, and the touch of it seemed to warm the blood in his veins. Three days later they had landed in Spain, merged with another division, then crossed the Pyrenees into France, and finally to Paris where the fighting had begun. The Russians had not yet used the H-bomb; the threat of annihilation by the retaliation forces had been too great. The very feel of the word was everything a battle-weary soldier needed to make him fight harder and live longer. When the all-clear had sounded, the men clambered from their shelters.
output:  At first it is a declaration of commitment, but soon shows that its pledge exists in death, becoming a haunting symbol of how love doesn’t last forever.
options:  At first it is a declaration of everlasting love, but soon shows that its pledge exists
  past death, becoming a haunting symbol of how love can bleed into death.  At first it is a declaration of everlasting love, but soon shows that its pledge exists
  past death, becoming a haunting symbol what can happen when love isn’t returned home.  At first it is a declaration of everlasting marriage, but soon shows that its pledge even exists in war, becoming a symbol of how love can survive death and overcome all trials.  At first it is a declaration of commitment, but soon shows that its pledge exists in death, becoming a haunting symbol of how love doesn’t last forever.