Patchouli And Autumn Leaves Poem by Genevieve Surrender

Patchouli and Autumn Leaves
both scents tempt and tease my nostrils

I know you're far
You're in a place you're not to be
yet these scents tease me
It smells like you're here

Remember when we would swing the clubs?

Remember when you taught me how?

Remember when you helped me live?

Remember when you married my mother?
I don't, but I know it happened.

Remember when I said I love you?

I remember when we hung up the phone.
Those silences afterwards wrench my heart

Soon we will bend those bars
Soon I will see you
Soon I will love you face to face
just like when I was a child
and you would lift me up on your shoulders
so I could see the elephants
on the other side of the people

And I still smell you
even in things that you've never
smelled before

I can smell you
in the patchouli and autumn leaves.