The Button

Like a cherry tree…

There on my chest, ablaze, my life!

A cherry tree trying to cover

Its very last berry—

That is me, watching over

My ragged shirt’s single button.

When hopes and souvenirs are all gone,

When the burden’s too heavy to bear,

I make sure the button’s still on—

The one that you stitched there.

In spite of years and fears,

In spite of snows and rows,

To this hole-riddled life I am wed

By the stitch of your love’s endless thread.

Day has given way to night. I gaze

At a single lit window.

A window it’s not: there on my chest, ablaze,

My life sewn in by you.