"A Blakean Button".

This poem was published in Canadian Stories magazine and again in my chapbook How to Remember. It's about a button I found that reminded me of  a passage from William Blake's writing.

BLAKEAN BUTTON

"What," it will be questioned, "when the sun rises, do you not see a round disc  of fire somewhat like a guinea?"

"Oh, no, no. I see an innumerable company of the heavenly host crying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.'"

From The Book of Thel, by William Blake, 1789

A round disk of silver with petal design -
so what does this button suggest?
Just a flower in metal, the size of a dime,
to decorate somebody's chest?

Look closely, you'll notice a sunflower, styled.
Its intricate pattern is plain,
hypnotically whirling to dazzle a child
who may lack the words to explain.

This flower won't wither and die in the fall.
It outlasted the garment it graced.
Perhaps it endured to puzzle us all
as we think about time and of space.

Does the rising sun seem like a coin in the hand,
like a loonie, or guinea of gold?
To Blake, the sun seemed like a bright angel band
that sang praises in stories of old.

This silvery button the size of a dime
which sparkles like sun upon snow,
can stir thoughts of worlds far beyond space and time,
where fields of tall sunflowers grow.

(c) Ruth Latta, 2020