ON "SCENTS"

ON "SCENTS"


I've often read in novels that the air
smelled of honeysuckle (or lilac, or--- ).
But I walked by the honeysuckle
a foot and a half away,
and didn't even catch a whiff.
In fact, when I put my nose up to the blooms,
the scent was so faint as to be almost imagination.
Maybe there are different kinds of honeysuckle;
Or it’s the weather or season.

Sometimes when I bring a boquet inside,
such as daphne, it really does perfume the room.
But I’m not usually aware of the scent out in the yard.
(I wonder -- if the temp was 100 degrees,
would more fragrance be released?
But then I wouldn’t catch the scent: for
I'd be holed up indoors with the air conditioner on!)

One natural scent really does "carry"
pungently on the air, and that is new-mown grass.
Distinctive aroma like no other.
(But another odor that reaches me is, alas,
burning garbage in some neighbor’s
fireplace or yard-debris bonfire!)

I would love it if my life gave off the scent
that sweet honeysuckle is reputed to waft.
How might I let God mold me such
That I might carry to others the enriching
scent of kind and gentle spirit
in every sort of weather and season?

Photos and text (c) 2010 by Marilee Miller