At the corner of the house
a lilac bush stood
filling the spring evenings
of childhood
with sweet smelling
memories.

These memories
came flooding back
as I walked down the street
and the smell of mulch
echoed the smell
of what?

A freshly sharpened pencil?
The fairground
where the lumberjacks roundup
had just ended?
The carefully tended gardens
on the college campus?

When all of a sudden
another olfactory memory –
where was it from?
I looked around for a clue
I search my mind for recollections

It was the perfume
that one of my grammar school teachers
wore
when we had big tests.