Essence

You want to know where your essence is? A small cyst below your right nipple holds a milky stuff with a fragrance you will recognize, not pleasant, but familiar like memory, like infancy, and what your cat uses to know you are home. Do you remember what it was like to be a smelling creature? Think back to when the light was poor and there was only time. You secreted your name. Down in the darkness where you don't want to go, the tribes were mounting flags of protein. You could count the packets to know who was there, body close, reassured.