In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ‘twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.
hammett_vanessa –
This perfume is so pretty! Imagine cherry Juicy Juice, and you’ve got it. It smells like honeysuckle flowers gathered in leather work gloves. Not too sweet, it reminds me of a gardenia perfume my grandmother used to have (that smelled like honeysuckle).
bookhobbit –
I don’t know why, but I don’t get leather at all from this – just the dragon’s blood and something else extremely sweet. However, I’ve consistently had this trouble with BPAL perfumes meant to have a leather smell, so maybe it’s just me! The scent is nice, and good for layering, despite not being what I was expecting. Nice over Dwarf.
Kathryne –
The strange thing about this one is that it seems to smell different every time I wear it. It definitely starts off warm like a man’s cologne, and then evens out smoothly.
However some days the leather sticks out and some days it’s the smoke. I have a hard time identifying the dragons blood under it.
When it has it’s good day it smells AMAZING. On its bad day it choked out my mother, who a week prior had loved it.
A gamble but one I enjoy taking when I need something a tinge more on the masculine side.
[email protected] –
On me, exactly as described, the slight cherry tinge of dragon’s blood, mixed with smoke and leather. I found it a bit roaring at first, but it calms down to simmering softness, just like the touch of good leather.