Food for thought...

"Smell is the sense of memory and desire..." ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What is a "memory"? How accurate could one's memory be? Is it like a portrait - that frozen smile, the uncomfortable pose and unnatural atmosphere? Or is a memory more comparable to that of a candid shot - a snapshot in time where the photographer has captured a rare and special moment between his unaware subjects?

A memory is a million things, an object or a smell that conjures images in one's mind, a sensation of familiarity, something that brings a smile to one's face, a sparkle in their eye, a tear that falls, or a feeling of suffocation from reminded pain. Words written in a journal, lilting notes of a haunting melody, lyrics from a song that reverberates in the sub conscience, a keepsake....

Like the worn pages of a favourite book, a memory can fade with time: it becomes soft around the edges, blurred like that of an image from a dream. Or a memory can change with time, transformed - like spices added to leftovers from the night before - it can become sharper, resplendent, improved.

Memories...
Resplendent in flashes,
Picturesque tableaus in the mind.

Memories...
Frozen in time:
Capturing a moment
Vividly reminiscent
Of a portrait

Memories...
Like keepsakes
In a memory box
of the mind.

~ Amy