Say that the men of the old black tower,
Though they but feed as the goatherd feeds,
Their money spent, their wine gone sour,
Lack nothing that a soldier needs,
That all are oath-bound men:
Those banners come not in.
There in the tomb stand the dead upright,
But winds come up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
Those banners come to bribe or threaten,
Or whisper that a man’s a fool
Who, when his own right king’s forgotten,
Cares what king sets up his rule.
If he died long ago
Why do you dread us so?
There in the tomb drops the faint moonlight,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
The tower’s old cook that must climb and clamber
Catching small birds in the dew of the morn
When we hale men lie stretched in slumber
Swears that he hears the king’s great horn.
But he’s a lying hound:
Stand we on guard oath-bound!
There in the tomb the dark grows blacker,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine.
twopeople007 –
Lives up to it’s name. Hard to put a finger on, or describe as any way other than “dark”. Too sweet to quite be called woodsy, too woodsy to quite be called sweet. Makes me think a little bit of a noir office somehow. Lasts me a good few hours.
bottlejoss –
genuinely my favourite scent, and is usually my signature and/or every day base. It has a subtle sweetness, the cocoa is dark and beautiful. Fades down to a vaguely earthy, woodsy scent that is lovely as well. My absolute favourite purchase from BPAL to date.
Jae –
This one is cool, spicy, tart and damp earth. Very lovely spring scent!
artimisia –
This one is a morpher. When I first applied it, it hit me very strongly with the cocoa and fig. Very masculine. It settled down pretty quickly, though, and became unisex. The chocolate faded to a background note and the “shadowy wooded notes” came forward. I smelled like a cedar chest doused in chocolate. As the day waned, it changed again. The cedar smell went away and I was left with a comfortable spiciness.
I was torn about what star rating to give this one. I spent the whole day trying to decide if I liked it or not. It’s such an ODD scent. But it does smell exactly as advertised, so it’s on me for being adventurous. I am definitely going to keep the imp and use it… I Liked it well enough not to give it away. …And I can be picky. But I don’t think I’ll buy the bottle. It’s getting four stars because, even though it wasn’t EXACTLY my cup of tea, you have to give BPAL props for creating an utterly unique scent. It would definitely smell good on a guy, or on an adventurous woman who likes chocolate scents. So four stars.
KatRampant –
Spicy cocoa and obvious fig in the bottle. Cocoa steps back a bit application and I’m left with something woody, earthy, dark, and just a tiny bit tart. There’s sweetness, but I would not call this one at all foody. There’s something really damp and cool to it.