Olfactory

A poem about smells

Glory be to God for all we smell –

For blossom’s balm born on a springtime gust;

For oven-odours – crusty, fresh-baked bread;

Synthetic scented sweetness – Brut, Chanel

And all such fragrances; the mouldy must

Of clutter cloistered in a garden shed;

For smells unseemly, sordid; scent that sours –

The bitter tang of turgid, treacly tar

New-laid in lanes and lay-bys; burning tyres;

The sweet bouquet of mown lawns after showers;

The rapturous aroma from a lit cigar;

The dank delight of smouldering garden fires;

For all smells – fresh, familiar, pleasant, rare,

Whatever is piquant, pungent (who can tell?)

With ripe, raw; putrid, pure; sweet, savoury;

Smell sings; for odours foul or fair, Praise be!