Like Animals Like Humans

Odors can’t be translated,
Only ever imported.
Sound waves can be pressed on wax,

Expressed as digits. The light
Bounced back from chemical baths
Tricks eyes centuries later.

Thoughts have been corralled in words
For so long we’re uncertain
We’re not living thoughts ourselves.

But not smells. You must port them,
Potted, as the smells they are,
And keep them to release them

At their destination, like
Animals reintroduced
To wilderness, like humans.