Buttons

Dedicated to Bill Kalles

Buttons
by denny

Damn. I just noticed
that I’ve lost another button
off my favorite shirt,
the one you bought me
that last Christmas.
And when I go to the closet
to get the needle and thread,
I see the box - tucked away
in the corner where I put all
the memories we shared.
The buttons of our life
that held together its fabric.
Standing there, I reminisce
about that first time -
trembling fingers unbuttoning
the front of your blouse and how
whenever you smiled,
you’d wrinkle your little button nose.
You could always twist me around
your finger, knowing exactly
which buttons to push.
But I loved to make you smile
just to see the joy in your eyes.
You’d laugh and say that I
was too buttoned-down,
that it was your task in life
to get me to smile more.
So, I force a little smile
just for you, as I sit patiently
sew the new button on my shirt,
the one you bought me
that last Christmas before
the fabric of my life fell apart.