otherwise

it could not be otherwise:
that scent is the strongest link
to memory, and that tonight smells of

crisp autumn fallwearing
sweatshirt, walking after dusk
air tinged like a gold-embroidered
silk scarf
with ashes, reminiscent of
a wood-cooked fire

this smell couldonly be
western Romania, where we
never were and where the
palinka warmed our cold, cold hands
walking, nightly, freely

no; not otherwise, this scent
and certainly not here.