[Unperfected]
Inhale the scent of this old book
Its scents remind you of a sunlit forest
Of a cedar tree by a small brook
Breathe in the musky scents of the thesaurus
An old dictionary you would pretend to read
When you were yet young and unschooled
When you were still a seedling from a small seed
Chasing butterflies unlike the schooled
Don't you remember?
Walk down the streets as it rains
There are 7 years jingling inside you
Walk down the dusty lanes
The sidewalk a dark gray blue
The dust rises as the rain falls
Breathe in the dusty rain
Then you hear your mother scold and call
For you shouldn't walk in the rain
Don't you remember?
Scribbling on a piece of wrinkled paper
With crayons, red and blue
On the corner you draw a truck over a skyscraper
And another of a balloon that flew
You press your face against the scribbles
Scribbles that you believe is a masterpiece
It smells like candles and wax, the scribbles
And when you taste it tastes like a disease
Don't you remember?
Imagine a cold day in December
Cold snow dusting over your eyelashes
You are beginning to miss Summer
Only when Summer's fire had become ashes
Ashes called Winter snowflakes
You pass the bakery and watch with envy
As you pass a window displayed with cornflakes
As you watch the baker called Henry
Pass our cakes and cookies
Cakes with such a sweet, yeasty aroma
In the bakery with such nice goodies
Such a heavenly, mouthwatering aroma
Don't you remember?
Don't you remember of the scents that bring back memories?
Of peppermint sticks on Christmas, of fresh baked bread,
Don't you remember the musky scent of the forest and trees?
Of the old books and the yellowed pages that your mama read
To you when you were too young to know the meaning of the words
Of the ocean wind laced with salt and seaweed
Of the gasoline smells as your father passes a gas station around the curb
Remember the time when you agreed
To play hide and seek in the attic
And there you found some moth balls and you thought it was for moths to feed
Remember the time around a fire, your father's jokes loud and dramatic
And you didn't watch you marshmallow and it burned
But you believed it was a perfect marshmallow
Even though it smelled like darkened toast and so burnt
Remember smelling paint when your sister wanted to paint her room pink
And you wanted to paint yours blue
Remember when you made everything a messy stink
A dreadful smell of paint caused by you
Don't you remember the scents that make you remember?