Swimming in the wake

he loved the scent of
a woman

someone he didn't know
a stranger who passed
him in the street
or sat next to him on
a bus

a friend had once told him
that he stood in the doorways
at parties
breathing in the scent of women
who passed him

he didn't go to parties
anymore
so made do with fleeting
scent

a woman would walk pass him in
the street
on a windless day
and her perfurmed
aura would engulf him

he would sometimes
stop to breathe it in
and felt a contact
with the woman

even though she had
already passed
him and would never see
him again

he felt like wallowing in the
scent
swimming in the wake of
a woman