My well-beloved was stripped. Knowing my whim,
She wore her tinkling gems, but naught besides:
And showed such pride as, while her luck betides,
A sultan’s favored slave may show to him.
When it lets off its lively, crackling sound,
This blazing blend of metal crossed with stone
Gives me an ecstasy I’ve only known
Where league of sound and lustre can be found.
She let herself be loved: then, drowsy-eyed,
Smiled down from her high couch in languid ease.
My love was deep and gentle as the seas
And rose to her as to a cliff the tide.
My own approval of each dreamy pose,
Like a tamed tiger, cunningly she sighted:
And candour, with lubricity united,
Gave piquancy to every one she chose.
Her limbs and hips, burnished with changing lustres
Before my eyes, clairvoyant and serene,
Swanned themselves, undulating in their sheen;
Her breasts and belly, of my vine the clusters,
Like evil angels rose, my fancy twitting,
To kill the peace which over me she’d thrown,
And to disturb her from the crystal throne
Where, calm and solitary, she was sitting.
So swerved her pelvis that, in one design,
Antiope’s white rump it seemed to graft
To a boy’s torso, merging fore and aft.
The talc on her brown tan seemed half-divine.
The lamp resigned its dying flame. Within,
The hearth alone lit up the darkened air,
And every time it sighed a crimson flare
It drowned in blood that amber-coloured skin.
Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, red apple, frankincense and myrrh.
Adrian Burke –
If you, like me, have always been obsessed with the smell of fresh beeswax candles, this perfume will wrap you up in a loving hug. It makes me feel like I’m washing clean white linens and hanging them to dry on a summer day.
Jae –
This smells like sunshine and herbs.
faerieeva –
Received this as a frimp and will need to buy a bottle. I usually do not do well with sweet scents. They all get sticky and cloying on me. This.. doesn’t. It is an.. incredibly wholesome scent. Sunshine, herbs and a goodly woman.
Rebecca –
I love beeswax and candle scents, and Against Idleness is like the springtime cousin to scents like Lights of Men’s Lives, with the bees still out in the fields among the herbs and flowers. Mainly honey/beeswax on me, with gentle chamomile and hyssop. Absolutely lovely and long-lasting to boot.
Gloame –
Some years ago, I sampled this and loved it and called it an oriental blend. It seems totally different to me now. Kind of pink-purple with a good bit of honey. Now it smells more like spring cakes. Warm and yummy and bright. Interesting, but I don’t think I love it as much as I did the first time.
Where I’d wear it: On a sailboat, eating a crumpet picnic.
Katherine –
This smells like bees having sex. I am in love with this fragrance. It’s like honey, but better. I definitely recommend getting at least an imp to decide for yourself. I am so lucky to have found this amazing company. It is happiness in a bottle!
QueenieBee –
This smells very similar to Avon’s “Skin So Soft” body oil. Very powdery. Not unpleasant, but not a scent I wish to wear.
Nuri –
My husband likes very few scents right out of the bottle but Idleness he did. I don’t get a lot of tonka but a soft chamomile scent with a little bit of honey sweetness and a slight herby quality from the hyssop. It will be in my next purchase