These Places Remind Me

Every memory has a scent
Every scent has a name
And a face and a time and a place.
Every moment has a memory
Every second holds a life
and a person and a place and a time.

Every place reminds me
Of a time and a life and a memory of
the things we had and the things we shared
and the times we spent and the way we cared.

Every scent reminds me
of a different time and a different place
and a different body and a different face
and my closeness to the world and all of you.

The axe cuts through my mind
Taking over, back to a time
When you cared for me and me for you
and all we had was the moment,
the rhythm, the rhyme.
Raspberries remind me of your lips
of that time in the alley
And that one, long, intimate kiss.
Downy reminds me of those soft times
when I would cry when you left me alone.

I can never drive by that big screen
without looking into your eyes all over again
As you fastened those shells around my neck.
I can never cross that stage
without feeling your arms around me
pulling me through the curtains, out the back.
These places remind me of those happy times
When we held on tight and promised to fight
To never let go and to somehow survive.

These places remind me of
what we shared
and what we held
and how we cared
and where we fell.

You weren't so bad as a first
And certainly not the worst.

But these places
don't remind me
so very often
of you anymore
Not like they did
a short time before.

Cause these places did remind me
To never trust you so much again
To guard my heart, marked with chagrin.
These places stand as monuments
of where we failed--where you failed
And I don't think I'll go back there again.