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I wish I remembered the way you smelled. I don’t have to close my eyes to see your face – your eyes behind your glasses, your mischievous grin, your hair right after it’s been cut. The sweaters you would pull on before we went outside into the cold, the shirts you liked to wear, freshly pressed, in colours none too bold. That ratty old bag of yours I could never persuade you to give up.

The sound of you not smiling. The impossible warmth that I wanted to believe would last when I was in your arms. I can almost recall the taste of my 23rd birthday dish you had prepared so carefully though its name always escapes me.

Anything, everything, but the way you smelled.

One day, I’ll walk these callous streets again amidst all the beautiful people rustling away from each other, and I will pick up your scent somehow. But I won’t turn around, no, for I don’t remember the way you smell. Failing to recognise it, I will walk away, like everyone else, from the one who could be you.

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~ * ~

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Addendum: I reviewed Perfume by Patrick Süskind here.

Current Mood: The sort of feeling when you’re missing someone but not really sure if you do.
Current Music:

• Turin Brakes – Feeling Oblivion
• The Notwist – Trashing Days
• Coldplay – Trouble

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Credits: Image from cover of Das Parfum – Die Geschichte eines Mörders by Patrick Süskind.