Forgot first

Hi, this is my first poem on here. I really appreciate you taking the time to read!

​

It was your scent that I

forgot first.

The one I breathed in as I held

you in my arms, heart to heart.

Did you smell of steaming cocoa inviting rain?

Or freshly washed linen

folded tight? I’ll never know.

​

Replaying our embrace

yields nothing.

All that’s left: a mere abstraction

missing one crucial detail.

Just thick outlines of lone figures robbed of colour.

Intoxicating scent

taunts from just beyond my reach.

​

All our shared chemistry

and yet,

I’m unable to recreate

the mixture of molecules

that once stimulated my olfactory bulb

transmitting waves of love

up nerve-tracts into my brain.

​

Once in a while a whiff

of you,

hits me without warning and I

turn around dazed, giddy with anticipation.

But just like that,

it’s gone.

And so are you.

​

Links:

Twenty-three

When Death Calls My Name