Carmen 7 Perfume

An indecent proposal of succulently spiced pear, exotic lychees, decadent French pralines, bourbon vanilla, and crushed almond blossoms leads to a ménage à trois of gardenia, star jasmine, and magnolia illuminated by the afterglow of a sensuously musky amber. "You ask how many kisses of yours would be enough and more to satisfy me. As many as the grains of Libyan sand that lie between hot Jupiter’s oracle, at Ammon, in resin-producing Cyrene, and old Battiades sacred tomb: or as many as the stars, when night is still, gazing down on secret human desires: as many of your kisses kissed are enough, and more, for mad Catullus, as can’t be counted by spies nor an evil tongue bewitch us." - Carmen 7: How Many Kisses, Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84–54 BC) Art: La Belle Helene by George Barbier, 1922