Incense

Musky scents clinging to the nostrils,
inhaled in the cool and dark silence
when wandering that antique store’s special room
draped pulled shut to protect from sunlight,
blue tear drop shaped lamp with ivory shade
only source of illumination,
littered with so many collectibles
from old tin fire truck and brown wooden toy chest,
so like the ones you own decades ago,
the feel of those had crafted furnishings,
stirs the mind’s embers
remembering the past with warmth and intensity
because it inspires the joy that once dwelt
in the play land of the days
where happiness was innocence,
beds were oceans sailed in dreams,
dressers the vaults of fantasies
and desks enchanted castles.

Going home the simple caress
of that store’s many treasures,
it summoned the joy once so cherished,
a visit to a private Neverland existing in the head,
in the incense of memory,
infused with the bond to symbols,
from times when heaven
was a holiday in make believe escapes,
lingers a spell for aged thoughts
as the moments in the heart
you love to revisit,
conjured so naturally and magically
once entering the door to yesterday
found anywhere the aroma of recollection
exudes in flashbacks from the familiar.