Carrying bouquet, and handkerchief, and gloves,
Proud of her height as when she lived, she moves
With all the careless and high-stepping grace,
And the extravagant courtesan’s thin face.
Was slimmer waist e’er in a ball-room wooed?
Her floating robe, in royal amplitude,
Falls in deep folds around a dry foot, shod
With a bright flower-like shoe that gems the sod.
The swarms that hum about her collar-bones
As the lascivious streams caress the stones,
Conceal from every scornful jest that flies,
Her gloomy beauty; and her fathomless eyes
Are made of shade and void; with flowery sprays
Her skull is wreathed artistically, and sways,
Feeble and weak, on her frail vertebrae.
O charm of nothing decked in folly! they
Who laugh and name you a Caricature,
They see not, they whom flesh and blood allure,
The nameless grace of every bleached, bare bone,
That is most dear to me, tall skeleton!
Come you to trouble with your potent sneer
The feast of Life! or are you driven here,
To Pleasure’s Sabbath, by dead lusts that stir
And goad your moving corpse on with a spur?
Or do you hope, when sing the violins,
And the pale candle-flame lights up our sins,
To drive some mocking nightmare far apart,
And cool the flame hell lighted in your heart?
Fathomless well of fault and foolishness!
Eternal alembic of antique distress!
Still o’er the curved, white trellis of your sides
The sateless, wandering serpent curls and glides.
And truth to tell, I fear lest you should find,
Among us here, no lover to your mind;
Which of these hearts beat for the smile you gave?
The charms of horror please none but the brave.
Your eyes’ black gulf, where awful broodings stir,
Brings giddiness; the prudent reveller
Sees, while a horror grips him from beneath,
The eternal smile of thirty-two white teeth.
For he who has not folded in his arms
A skeleton, nor fed on graveyard charms,
Recks not of furbelow, or paint, or scent,
When Horror comes the way that Beauty went.
O irresistible, with fleshless face,
Say to these dancers in their dazzled race:
“Proud lovers with the paint above your bones,
Ye shall taste death, musk scented skeletons!
Withered Antinoüs, dandies with plump faces,
Ye varnished cadavers, and grey Lovelaces,
Ye go to lands unknown and void of breath,
Drawn by the rumour of the Dance of Death.
From Seine’s cold quays to Ganges’ burning stream,
The mortal troupes dance onward in a dream;
They do not see, within the opened sky,
The Angel’s sinister trumpet raised on high.
In every clime and under every sun,
Death laughs at ye, mad mortals, as ye run;
And oft perfumes herself with myrrh, like ye
And mingles with your madness, irony!
A gloriously elegant representation of Lady Death. Dry, bone-white orris, black musk, serpentine patchouli and our murkiest myrrh.
earley24 –
I find that perfumes smell drastically different on my skin compared to my friends. This one smells very bright (almost minty) when I first put it on (I’m thinking this is the patchouli and Moss). Later it mellows out to more of the violets and is sweeter. I love this perfum it is one of my favorites.
thecoffeeslayer –
In the bottle: Masculine fragrance. It is much with the patchouli. Slightly violet, a little juicey & sweet, but earthy, & rooty & almost sweaty
Dry down: Dark violets and vegetable earth. It smells like an old root cellar with violets. Lots of heavenly violets. That odd juicey note is still there as well, but it blends in with the rest of the earth.
artimisia –
I really like this one. Make no mistake, this is not your typical perfume. The biggest takeaway with this scent is damp earth and moss. Very earthy and outdoorsy. The violet plays counterpart to this duet, sweetening the earth scent slightly and grounding the smell in a season. Spanish moss doesn’t grow near where I live (I’m in New England), so to me this smells like early springtime…when the snow has finally melted leaving damp earth and wet moss in its wake. With a few early spring flowers peeking out. So springtime in March or April, in other words…the wild, cool, exciting part of the season as opposed to the more warm and flowery May.
This got four stars instead of five for two reasons. For one, it is a very earthy perfume, which I loved, but I acknowledge won’t be to everyone’s taste. Secondly, I had a slight skin reaction when I pit this one. My neck turned reddish and itched. Still, that went away within ten minutes, while the beautiful scent lingered, so I’m not too bothered by it.
Kathleen –
J’adore! This is gorgeous!
In the imp: All four notes come through, but violets and red currants dominate. Fruity, yet earthy and flowery. The patchouli is very minor, and also sweet.
Wet: Bright, clean violets, and the clean, earthy smell of spanish moss. The moss grounds the violets a bit, and it smells like a sweet grassy prairie. As I’m writing this, the patchouli is starting to come through a bit more. Still fruity from the red currants.
Dry: … Okay! The patchouli is a sweet, subtle, and almost clay-like smell, and a barely there hint of spicy. It does a lovely job of grounding the other two main scents (the moss and violets). When the patchouli seeps into the red currants, it gives it a nice spiced chutney smell. Still sweet, but a bit of a holiday scent. The spanish moss is still present, and gives off the scent of petrichor. The violets take the lead of all this, and give it the smell of falling to sleep in a flower bed at the edge of the forest. If you can imagine falling to sleep in a bed of violets, surrounded by moss near the trees, and the slightly woody smell of patchouli, plus a berry bush hanging somewhere nearby, perhaps at the hedge that grows around the forest… what a beautiful smell!
I’m going to echo the other reviewer that this is perfect for rainy weather, especially during autumn. This is also perfect for lulling you to sleep, I feel.
VetchVespers –
Lovely, damp, mossy, violets. I detect no fruitiness from the currant. Patchouli is present, but takes a backseat, giving the violets a depth and earthiness. Unusual and definitely not a girly floral. My one complaint is it goes powdery on me – but it’s still quite nice and soothing.
This is rainy weather perfume. 🙂