The feverish room and that white bed,
The tumbled skirts upon a chair,
The novel flung half-open, where
Hat, hair-pins, puffs, and paints are spread;
The mirror that has sucked your face
Into its secret deep of deeps,
And there mysteriously keeps
Forgotten memories of grace;
And you half dressed and half awake,
Your slant eyes strangely watching me,
And I, who watch you drowsily,
With eyes that, having slept not, ache;
This (need one dread? nay, dare one hope?)
Will rise, a ghost of memory, if
Ever again my handkerchief
Is scented with White Heliotrope.
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Stunning piece of marvelously written poetry from one of the bards of ole'!!...tk u for sharing...PS
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This poem is both beautiful and strangely mesmerizing at the same time. (White Heliotrope was a perfume, among many, used commonly during the Victorian period.)
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wicked stuff!
From guest Lily (contact)
I LOVE THIS POEM! And especially the link between the plant and the woman. The title, ‘White Heliotrope’ is almost purposely misleading, as one automatically links the poem with the named flower. The fact that the white heliotrope is not mentioned again until the very last line of the poem is, at a glance, peculiar as the rest of the poem is about what appears to be an illicit liaison. However, when one looks back over the poem and adds knowledge of the flower named in the title, there could be a variety of possible meanings, especially those that link the woman and the flower. The ‘White Heliotrope’ (Heliotropium Arborescens) is a beautiful flower that smells incredibly sweet (often the smell is linked to either vanilla or marshmallows). This is highly ironic as this flower is incredibly poisonous and can cause serious illness, or death. When re-reading the poem, one can not help but wonder if the ‘slant’ eyed woman is the human representation of this flower. Not only is she fine-looking but she is also dangerous. The flower becomes an emblem of bad things, this being the woman and the relationship that occurs. Therefore, when Symons writes, ‘Will rise, a ghost of memory, if ever again my handkerchief is scented with White Heliotrope’ one realises that the sweet scent of this flower will forever haunt the narrator, and thus this woman will eternally be in his memory. Fanbloodytastic! :D -
Very describtive
I liked the vivid imagery and profuse describtion,
and the ending appealed to me most,
but I wonder if that plant (The heliotrope), was intentionally mentioned in the poem as to be the reason of the narrator's (poet) drowsines and hallucinations ?..
Raven Dark. -
...very vivid... good... ^_^
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oooo Awesome. What's heliotrope?
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Heliotrope or cherry pie (Heliotrope arborescens) is an evergreen shrub from tropical Peru. It grows to around 1m (3') tall and 1.5m (5') wide. The foliage is dark green and crinkled, with golden ('Aurea') or purple leaved ('Lord Roberts') cultivars available. From early spring to late summer it produces clusters of violet to mauve flowers with a heady, vanilla fragrance. Heliotrope grows best in the warmer parts of Australia.
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