Alison Cassidy - Olfactory Memories

My nose has always guided me
Across the roadmap of my world
From long ago when I remember
The bliss of my cream viella nightie

An ever cautious child, I used to
Open the book of each sandwich
And sniff its contents rabbit-like
Before trusting it to my tongue

And after dreams of bogeymen
The smell of mum beside the bed
Stroking my hair with wrinkled hands
Would always settle me softly

Bumping in the back of the old Buick
I would ask dad to open the window
To catch the seductive smell of creosote
When the men were tarring the road

And winter roast on Sunday morn
From slow combustion stove
With gravy brown and garlic lamb
Was always such an incentive to get out of bed!

Summer smells of rain on dust
And fresh baked crusty bread
And homegrown roses velvet dark
that filled the house with blackberry jam

And now though sense of smell is less acute
I hold your face between my hands
And let the powerful pheromones of you
Carry me to heaven and beyond

Alison Cassidy

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