Skip to main content

When there is perfume even in poetry


Dylan Thomas - In The Beginning

In the beginning was the three-pointed star,
One smile of light across the empty face,
One bough of bone across the rooting air,
The substance forked that marrowed the first sun,
And, burning ciphers on the round of space,
Heaven and hell mixed as they spun.

In the beginning was the pale signature,
Three-syllabled and starry as the smile,
And after came the imprints on the water,
Stamp of the minted face upon the moon;
The blood that touched the crosstree and the grail
Touched the first cloud and left a sign.

In the beginning was the mounting fire
That set alight the weathers from a spark,
A three-eyed, red-eyed spark, blunt as a flower,
Life rose and spouted from the rolling seas,
Burst in the roots, pumped from the earth and rock
The secret oils that drive the grass.

In the beginning was the word, the word
That from the solid bases of the light
Abstracted all the letters of the void;
And from the cloudy bases of the breath
The word flowed up, translating to the heart
First characters of birth and death.

In the beginning was the secret brain.
The brain was celled and soldered in the thought
Before the pitch was forking to a sun;
Before the veins were shaking in their sieve,
Blood shot and scattered to the winds of light
The ribbed original of love.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Comparing Geraniums

First Whiff 1. Himalayan geranium: initial smell is sweet, light and floral. 2. Atlantic bourbon geranium (certified organic): initial smell is dry, floral and slightly bitter. 3, Anatolian bourbon geranium: initial smell, rounder and also dry. More floral than the Atlantic. After 2 minutes 1. Light and sweet but drying out slightly, not at all bitter. A sweet floral note. 2. Much dryer, becoming more leafy now and a green tinge coming through. 3. Also much dryer but becoming more fruity than leafy, more of a soft fruity floral. After 5 minutes 1. Is still light and now fruity floral, still more sweet than dry. 2. A distinct bitterness which is not present in the Himalayan geranium, a dry floral note. 3. No bitterness, the more fruity of the three. After 10 minutes 1. A definite citrus note coming in from nowhere, lifting this one up again, mmmmh I'm really enjoying the Himalayan geranium. 2. A softer herbal tea type note, less bitter and a little cloying compared to the Himalayan ...

Working on a violet composition

There is something about violets. The little purple gems that to me represent spring. It is difficult to create a natural violet perfume composition because there is no actual violet flower absolute. There is a violet leaf absolute but it's green and dark and not a sweet delicate floral the way violets are. So...what to do? I am getting somewhere. First of all what is the profile of the perfume of violets? The notes of the flower are tender and sweet, with the complexity of the exotics like jasmine or ylang ylang. The perfume of a violet flower sort of draws you in in a beguiling way and before you know it it's imprinted on your memory never to be forgotten. As I say I am really getting somewhere. As usual getting the top notes stumped me. The question was how do I make something delicate and tender come out on top in a way that will lure a person in. Notes of carnation absolute, violet leaf and orris butter are key elements in the composition, using rose, jasmine and yla...

Orris Root

"The Florentine iris is one of the oldest flowers in cultivation. It is said to be the model for the Fleur-de-Ly's of heraldry. When dried and ground, orris root (really the underground stem) produces a powder possessing the fragrance of violets, used by the Victorians as face powder. It is one of the chief ingredients of the famous perfume Frangipani and used in many other perfumes, cosmetics and in pot-pourris. It is used as a fixative in the manufacture of perfumes." A Garden of Herbs by Agnes Walker Aged Orris Root  Orris Absolute This, one of the most expensive of all natural materials, is on a steady retreat from the perfumers shelf. This fact is due not only to the high price of orris absolute (about three times the cost of Jasmin absolute, or 50% higher than Bulgarian "otto" of rose), but also because of the appearance of a number of fine synthetic chemicals which either reproduce the principal notes in orris absolute, or are actually prese...