For a Moment to Remember

A musing poem on the connection between scent and memory.

Give me no scent of the agonizing blossoms
hovering on the background of remembrance.
The past's entombed and neither sight
nor sound betrays its presence,
voices muffled under years of blankets
lips and hands forgotten.
But just one whiff of
who knows what
and look!
The morning's not to blame!
Like rose and cinnamon it leaps the sky
flings up the grasshopper and finds his perch
with wild abandon on the tilting porch.
When all our yesterdays seem struck stark dead
upon an instant's fragrance back they sway
and leave us breathless in their naked clutch.
Leave but the scent
of the agonizing blossoms.

Author's Note

Wrote this one some years ago and it remains the piece of poetry I am most proud of. It's about that experience of catching a faint whiff of some smell and having it bring a sudden, very vivid, flash of memory with it that vanishes as quickly as it came and leaves you there aching with loss and desperately trying to hold onto something you can't quite grasp.

Reviews

[Marie]

You are right. The sense of smell is so strong that it can take you immediately back to the past, whether you will or no.

[Cathy Wattam]

Beautifully written. Everyone I'm sure has a memory tied up with a certain distinctive fragrance. I know I have. Wonderful writing.

[Distant horizons]

Beautifully written. Brought back memories of my grandpa, who I have this connection with every time I smell pipe tobacco it takes me right back to being a kid again. Really descriptive with great use of language. Superb.