How the Scent of Time Introduced Itself To Me

No photograph could hold that trace No written word could name its face It drifted softly through the air Like someone leaving, still somewhere I closed my eyes, the walls grew thin Forgotten echoes wandered in Not voices, not a fading rhyme Just the quiet scent of time Every step I never took Every page I never looked Gathered in the evening light Calling from the edge of night I followed what I could not see A ghost that breathed instead of screamed It settled gently in my mind The hidden scent of all we'd left behind No hands could hold it, no heart confine The air remembered every line And in that moment I realized Time had already learned my name The hallway carried winter rain Old wood whispered through the grain Every crack beneath my feet Made absence feel almost complete The years were folded into dust Into rust and quiet trust Nothing vanished, nothing died It only learned where to hide Every ending left a mark Every ember fed the dark Every breath became a sign Leading to what I could never define I followed what I could not see A ghost that breathed instead of screamed It settled gently in my mind The hidden scent of all we'd left behind No hands could hold it, no heart confine The air remembered every line And in that moment I realized Time had already learned my name If tomorrow fades away Will these rooms still know my shape? Will forgotten winds remain Speaking softly through the grain? I was never chasing years Only traces they leave here Invisible, yet always near Breathing through the atmosphere I followed what I could not see Until it finally followed me It settled deeper than my skin Where every ending could begin No clock could measure what survives The unseen pulse beneath our lives And when the silence answered me The scent of time introduced itself to me The room stood still The air moved on I took one breath And carried it home