diff --git a/ext/ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb b/ext/ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb
index 9ada47927b..e1a21d628b 100644
--- a/ext/ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb
+++ b/ext/ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb
@@ -185,7 +185,9 @@ class Ripper
     end
 
     def _push_token(tok)
-      @buf.push Elem.new([lineno(), column()], __callee__, tok, state())
+      e = Elem.new([lineno(), column()], __callee__, tok, state())
+      @buf.push(e)
+      e
     end
 
     def on_error(mesg)