Buttons, No Bows

when someone coined the phrase
"as plain as a button",
he/she did not have you in mind
you can hardly be called "plain"

the nickname i've given you.
is "butones" that has more to do
with another expression:
"cute as a button"

i finger this tiny white round button
with four tinier holes punched into it
it takes me back to baguio
where eight hours & 15 minutes ago
i left you asleep by your mother's side

your mother, my daughter
once a baby like you
with just as round button eyes
that fastened on anything colorful
anything that moved
anything that emitted a sound
including the snoring of the weary

this button i hold like a charm
whitened by my constant rubbing
also transports me back
farther in time
when as a mother
with a baby by my side
i learned to befriend fear & loss
& entered a pact with some distant god
to grant me all the pain, all the losses
all the unenviable plainness
of a homely existence
but spare this child please
& grant her a possible happiness
that only an unexpected you can bring

--Babeth Lolarga

Photo of Butones Fernandez in Baguio by her mother Kimi
Image of buttons from a Facebook page