Bread and Circuses

Chapter 37: FOR MY MOTHER, WITH A NEW BUTTON-BOX

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About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems ranges from quiet country scenes and childhood memories to urban sketches and religious reflections. The poet renders streams, gardens, market sellers, and domestic interiors in close sensory detail while pairing everyday observation with moral and spiritual meditation. Animal vignettes and playful pieces for children sit alongside elegies, prayers, and ironic portraits of modern life, producing tones of humour, tenderness, and solemnity. Varied forms and concise portraits move between pastoral lanes, London streets, and intimate household moments while attending to time, sorrow, and faith.

FOR MY MOTHER, WITH
A NEW BUTTON-BOX

When I was small, great joy it was to see Your button-box: the deathless comedy Of blowing on the lid enacted, wide It flew, I scanned the treasure-trove tongue-tied, Cassim in caves of Haberdashery! The small pearl “glove” evoked essential glee, The large white linen was an ecstasy And each gilt hook was covetously eyed When I was small. Lost are the clothes whereon those buttons be— But not the love that planned the stitchery, The button-baby is herself a bride— But sends you this with love, and writes inside “You are far dearer than you were to me When I was small.”