Her Scent on Empty Air

Found your coat

In the back of the hallway

Pressed my face

To the faded sleeve

I breathed in deep

Just dust and cold air

Nothing of you

Left for me

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

Did it sting like rain

Or feel like bread at dawn?

I reach for a trace that never comes

Just a blank in the place

Where your warmth should live on

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

And it feels like something’s wrong

Family says

You loved that one perfume

Name on their tongue

But not on mine

I try old brands

In a drugstore aisle

Hoping one breath

Turns back time

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

Did it cling like smoke

Or drift like summer wind?

I search every stranger passing by

For a ghost of a past

That I carry thin

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

Like a story I’m missing within

Maybe it’s tucked

In a box I lost

Or a shirt they gave away

Maybe it’s hiding

In the hair I brush

Every single day

If I ever catch

Just one small note

I swear I’ll hold it tight (so tight)

Write it down

Say it out loud

Every morning

Every night (mmm)

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

Just the shape of her hands

And the songs she’d hum

But I’ll keep a space on my quiet skin

For the day that a breath

Brings her rushing in

I can’t remember my mother’s scent

Yet I know

I’m made of her

Within