A Box of Buttons

The day it came upon us to go through grandma's house
Inside her bedroom closet way up high upon a shelf
I found a box of buttons some made of metal some of bone
So many different colors some were faded and looked old
I poured those buttons on the table wondered stories they could tell
One looked like it's from the army and it looked like it had gone through hell
I remember seeing photos of distant cousins over seas
Some came home and others didn't that's the sad reality

All of those buttons hold onto the past
Of people and places that help make them last
Collected for decades from here and from there
And kept in that closet to remember from where
There's a button from Aunt Joanie's red dress she wore each Christmas
There was one from Gramps suspenders that kept his pants up off the floor
There was also a brass rivet from a pair of my old jeans
So many other buttons that I had never seen

All of those buttons hold onto the past
Of people and places that help make them last
Collected for decades from here and from there
And kept in that closet to remember from where
I took that box of buttons put them high up on a shelf
Inside my bedroom closet, oh the stories they could tell