Scented Memories

This poem starts with a memory

You left pressed against

My neck

Fastened with shards of

My own heart

So if anytime

Your horrors fade away

They dug a little deeper inside

My hollowness.

When love ends

Vulnerability begins to decipher

The untold

Compromised statements

And backspaces

Taped as a hymn

We only remember when we (don't) need to

For every word hidden is

A tectonic plate trembling to

Shatter your insides.

You thrust your needs

Inside the bolted rooms

Behind the walls and the trees

In every sinful corner

My doubts filtered

Through the facade of your love

You tell me that my pain

Is the price we pay for love

And my scars are the memories

You gifted me with

So today after your absence

I pray the price of your love

Everyday

Sometimes through tears

Sometimes through the blood.

If only there could be

An invention

That bottled up a memory

Like scent

I would store the memories

Of your kisses and warmth

And spray it all over my scars

Whenever they will

Bleed.

That night when my lullabies

Turned into your ache

You swayed a little away

From my thoughts

Like a scented memory 

Sweet as summer

Left exposed to wither away.

If my memories could speak to you

They would tell you

That the air you left behind

Still reverberates

In my sleep

And caresses my nightmares

And they don't know what's more

Threatening

The absence of your skin

Or the presence of your soul.