"The Smell of Ancient Dust"

by David Schmidt '16

You open the door of the library and inhale

Your nostrils collect the dust of time

Ancient dust

You open a book and it smells like incense

The dust of Egyptian Pharaohs and Russian Czars

And other rulers with strange names

The dust of warriors, doctors, leaders, and peasants

Collected between the pages of nonfiction and biography

The dust of farmers, teachers, dictators, and slaves

Collected between pages of fantasy and poetry

Smell of perfumes in Roman markets

Brought across the desert camel-back

From its Indian homeland with sapphires aquamarine

The smell of wars, blood and sacrifice

On the ziggurats of Mesopotamia

To the battlefield on the western front

Smell of Alexandrian knowledge

On papyrus scrolls and clay tablets

Cuneiform and hieroglyphic appear

From the obsidian walls of Zimbabwe

To the dry stone walls of Scotland

The stone powder reaches are noses

From the Great Wall of China to the Great Barrier Reef

And all of humanities travels

Breathe in and smell humankind.