Nose...
If I didn't
have a nose
Would I be able
to smell a rose?
(Is there more to scent
than smelling?
Are there more to words
than spelling?)
* * *
If I didn't
have a nose -
I'd be worried
I suppose...
...A gaping hole
in front of me -
What a dreadful
monstrosity!
But a hole
is merely emptiness
With nothing more
than nothingness...
* * *
Can you miss
what you've never known?
Never experienced
on your own?
When the sight of a rose
Brings no scent to mind -
No feeling to flicker,
No memory to linger...?
27.1.1998
Toronto
Copyright. Jonathan Koh, 1998