Scent of a memory lost in time

Each and every one of us carries a certain smell... a "scent" that we cannot detect. This may sometimes be confused with our cologne, or perfume -- but no... there's something more.

Some may call these pheromones, other may call this memory association... but I don't think there's a person out there that can deny the idea that there's been a smell that lasts forever in our minds.

Sasha could smell Heather on this hoodie... Danielle could smell Sasha... I haven’t washed it in the four or five months that I've had it -- and I can still smell her.

This is the smell of the good times, the happy times, the in between. This is the smell of the long lost love that maybe some day I'll meet again. Perhaps this smell has been ingrained in my mind as the scent of this woman, and my mind has absently placed it on a piece of clothing that she has handed down to me. It's unmistakably her. It is faint, but clear -- when I breathe in it whispers to my nostrils, "Danielle" as the garment rests on my shoulders. When I'm cold, or when I'm sad, the scent is stronger... perhaps it's because it was a cold winter evening when she first handed it to me while I was shivering and told me, "Man... everyone should have a hoody."

I'm afraid to wash it -- because I don't want it to smell fresh or clean. I'm very mindful of it, because I know its history. Passed down from person to person who each could only smell the person that owned it before them... Maybe it will smell like me to someone some day?

These are the smells that bring us back, that take us away to a time we thought we had long forgotten. Takes us to that memory of the simple time when things seemed to make sense. These invisible scents are those which twist our stomach and stab our hearts with tiny knives...

It's true; this could just be nostalgia – the fading remnants of perfume... a glorification of a past not so pleasant. They're all memories. What's difference does it make?

They make me happy.

I have read and it is said
by scientists no less,
that the human brain
even when insane,
just might be limitless.
So throw away your terabyte,
or whatever will come next.
When it comes to storing data,
the human brain is best.

Memories can never die
but often they're forgotten.
They can get lost or wander off
as sometimes is the problem.

Little tricks like sticky notes
or red strings tied onto fingers.
We've made all of these strategies
to try and make them linger.

Sometimes they are just like sand
and trickle from our clenching hands.
They wander off all on their own
and what we've lost we've never known.

But on occasion and it's a fact
they will suddenly come back.
Unbidden and perhaps unwanted
reminders of a place we haunted.
Memories we don't want to have
with tight lipped smiles
and bitter laughs.

The slightest hint of familiar scents
will start me on a quick descent
into a memory that's bittersweet
and into the past my mind retreats.

Never found when it is looked for,
mysterious and elusive.
And a whiff of memory will always be
both pleasant and abusive.