My Mother's Perfume (Poetry)

A tiny bottle
in its cardboard box
kept in the cupboard
supposed too high up
for a child to reach

except when standing
on a kitchen chair
to have a good look
at forbidden things
when no one is there

How daring it was
to twist off the cap
and take a deep sniff
quite giddy before
putting it right back

If she suspected
then she never said
maybe it didn’t
once enter her head
I relished the scent —

a fragrance so strong
it wafts down the years
so poignant I try
to relive that sniff —
it was called “Sky High”