Ode to Shalimar

I praise the abrupt beauty of your inception;

how the strident scents of citrus are flung upon the breath

like the peal of bells upon the breeze.

I praise their dissolution as jasmine, rose, and iris rise 

to thread tremolos through dark vanilla strains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I praise the mothers in satin gowns radiating your aromatic symphony.

I praise their tender eyes, the way they descend like goddesses

to their child’s crib and leave a nighttime kiss.

I praise their graceful fingers lacquered red that fondle stray locks,

lull babes to lassitude, then quench the lights.

I praise their suffusion of infantile sleep

with the fragrance of your bouquet.

I praise the little girls, too young for such ablutions,

who startle from the force of your first notes.

Their innocence waits in the womb of time

for knowledge of your guerlinade.*

I praise  the ingénues who daub your amber liquid on their succulent flesh.

I praise their pleasure as your balsamic oils encircle breath and skin

in a halo of warmth.

And I praise the lovers who anoint their swelling flesh with your juices,

tightening the enflamed nerve of desire.

When their sated bodies slacken and part, your incense will linger

to merge their breath.

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*La Guerlinade  is an olfactory harmonious blend (“accord” in perfume-speak)  that is used in many Guerlain classical compositions: “Created in the mid-1880s by Guerlain’s  founder, Pierre François Pascal Guerlain, no one but the Company (whose in-house perfumers were all descendants until Thierry Wasser), knows exactly what notes compromise this mysterious and iconic accord; most fragrance experts believe it contains Bergamot, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, orange blossom, iris, (possibly linden, lilac and vetiver), tonka bean, and vanilla. (From Michelyn Camen article)

  http://fashiontribes.typepad.com/fashion/2009/10/are-you-real-my-idylle.html”

– Marlene Goldsmith, Contributor