The Atmosphere Is Not A Perfume

Inspired by the phrase ‘the atmosphere is not a perfume’ taken from ‘Song of Myself (Leaves of Grass)’ by Walt Whitman. This now comprises a part of The Linkages Project .

this atmosphere is not a perfume
but is the presence that still remains
in contours shaped when you rose to leave
with morning

I am embracing the slow escape of warmth
to find comfort in this chilling room
making your image in
the smoke of my own breath
and half day-dreaming

what I can’t do is hold you
grasp as I might to catch the illusion
there is nothing but the trace
left in a tepid fold of cloth
that holds a whisper of the smell of you
and it is my skin that lies alone
bare against the sheets
and last desire

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c. 200019/11/17

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