Essence

Of all the things I know
I only want to keep the core.

I capture moments in small bottles,
label them and place them
in an old pharmacist’s cabinet.

Years later, when I browse the
cabinet’s drawers, the contents
have become perfumes.

I smell my wife when
I first loved her.
I smell my children,
blossoming through time.
I sense the bathroom freshness
of the morning traffic.
I swiftly scent the bottle
‘Bizarre memory number 5’.

I have been bottled for life.