Does your Hero Smell? He Smells like a Memory #poetry

Ironically, this wasn't a cologne worn by anyone I ever knew, but I remember finding a sample scent in a magazine and I tore it out and slept with it under my pillow for a while and then placed it in my underwear drawer. It just smelled so good!

I guess, if I really get down to the nitty gritty of the matter, all the heroes in my novels probably smell like Safari or some equally raw earthy aroma that reminds me of my youth, of young love and the way your heart expands and your stomach pitches when you see that guy who makes your palms sweaty...who you'd recognize simply by the fragrance of him. The thing that makes him "smell like a memory." Our sensory perception lays the foundation for what we're attracted to, what we love, and the type of hero/heroine we're drawn to.

I don't often share my poetry here and I'm honestly not sure if I've shared this poem before or not, but I thought today I would because for me, scent does set off the most vivid of memories, and therefore it opens the door to the things we carry with us, no matter how far we've coming from where we once were to where we are now.

He Smells Like A Memory

HE smells like a memory
A hint of the past

Wrapping itself around my senses 

Jerking me back to a time I had forgotten
I feel the quickening of pulse
The deep vibrations in my core
Rising to roar in my ears
Drawing me to him

He smells like a memory
That makes my mouth water and my palms go damp
My heart aches and my loins tremble
As the visions of a life I once had
Flash through my mind
I catch my breath…

He smells like a memory…
Where has time gone?
It seems I forgot him so easily…
But I haven’t…
Not really
He has always been there
Ever-present in my heart
Waiting for some small detail
To set off the rushing river of emotions
That still tie me to him forever-
Be it an object or a feeling
Or even a scent
Yes, that’s it!

He smells like a memory
Like sensuality and sex
He smells of urgent need
And burning passion
And a love I tried so desperately to release
Still desire flickers and smolders beneath the surface
Yes, he left me…
Left me to face the days and years that came
Without him
Left me to reminisce of what once was
What should have been
What could never be
Yes…
He left me to pick up the pieces of my heart
Each time HE smells like a memory…

(copyright 2009 Taryn Raye)

I'll leave you with a few songs from one of my favorites- Ben Taylor.

#SCENTsational Saturdays- Does Your #Hero Smell? #Horizon

Horizon by Guy Laroche is a subtle, yet powerful scent for men. This fragrance is perfect for any time of day. Horizon combines citrus and lavender scents with tones of wood and sweet spices to create a cologne perfect for any occasion. First introduced in 1993, this cologne has been widely used by men for day-to-day activities. Lightly apply this subtle scent to your neck or wrists and feel ready to take on whatever the day throws at you.

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I don't normally post about my past, at least not in regard to relationships because I'm married and I've moved on, but when I pulled up the calendar post for today and remembered I'd endeavored to post about heroes and what they smell like and my favorites, I forgot momentarily that I would kind of have to travel down memory lane to describe the reasons this is probably still a favorite men's cologne, though I haven't smelled it in years.

From 1995 until around this time of year in 1999, I was in an on again, off again relationship, thrice (count 'em- 3 times) engaged to a man who once told me that on his first day on the job where we met- I was 20 at the time, that he went home that night and lay down to go to bed and he KNEW I was the woman he wanted to marry, that I was the woman he could see himself growing old with.

Of course, he told me that only after we officially started dating at the beginning of 1996 (I was seeing someone else when we met). We'd gone to school together but he didn't remember me, so I couldn't imagine someone could feel that deeply about me without even knowing me, but it was clear he was love-struck from the start and after spending more time with him, I really started to like him, too. Horizon was his signature cologne and for those few years of my life, that scent was a comfort, it turned me on because it smelled so good and I associated it with him and his love. He was, after all, the man I loved, the one I intended to marry someday.

In his arms, I felt like the most beautiful woman in the world and his nickname for me was "Pretty Eyes." We went through a LOT together, deaths of family, health scares with our parents, job changes, life changes. Things were not always easy, but for the first time in my life I knew what it was like to care about someone who actually told me and showed me that he cared about me, too. I know I took that for granted, I didn't always appreciate it. I was young and wondered if there were more out there in the world. I worried I didn't love him and at one point, a very low point for me when I gained a lot of weight and was depressed, I ended it. I wasn't happy and he wasn't happy and we weren't making each other happy.

He didn't want it to end though. He still loved me, at least, at that point he did and when I was supposed to start a new job on my birthday in February, we ended up with one of the biggest snowfalls to hit Central Kentucky in a long time- 2 foot of snow lay on the ground outside our front door and since I would have to walk to work, I didn't end up having to go that day. This man, who loved me so much, walked across town from where he lived with his parents, to the flower shop in the shopping center, and then through the park and the long way around my neighborhood in 2 FOOT OF SNOW to bring me a stuffed Ty cat for my birthday—while we were broken up.

Now, after we got back together, it was all down hill from there...the fights, the differences of opinion and ideas for what we each wanted for our life together. It seemed that what we once shared as like-minded individuals, the things we believed in and valued- something shifted and I don't really know what. But those things collided and ricocheted off each other and the vile words we said to each other wounded deeply and couldn't be taken back. 

I was told NOTHING anyone said could change his love for me and then within a few breaths he told me that his love came with conditions that had to be met or he "couldn't" love me. I still don't understand and sometimes, it does still hurt because I've never figured out what happened or how we fell apart.

What I try to remember though, is that people come into our lives for reasons beyond our comprehension. Some are there to love us always, but sometimes love isn't enough to make it work. We might not understand why things don't work out the way we plan, but I do believe there is a bigger picture that we can't see because we're just too close. I believe EVERY relationship teaches us about love, about ourselves, about loss and about strength to see beyond and continue traveling toward the "horizon." (Nice how I worked that in there, isn't it?) There's still life out there, even when one story comes to an end- there is still road to travel and you can't always see what's up ahead. You just have to keep going.

And so, now that I've had a good cry and pulled myself together (and in some ways hope I never catch a whiff of this cologne again) I'll leave you with this- it was just one of "our" many songs-

Don't forget to live in those moments....it's all very precious, even when the memories are hard to bear.

Hope you have a SCENTsational Saturday!
Enjoy it to the fullest!