Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

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Perfume

In addition to a nectar-like sweetness, many mystics experience a scent that can be rapturously overwhelming or tantalizingly subtle. The aroma is the intoxicating scent of what I sometimes call the Celestial Drink, variously called wine, amrita, rasa, dew, honey. But this blissful scent can also be understood as the perfume worn by the Beloved that awakens sacred ardor upon the spiritual journey.

And, of course, perfume is scented oil, oil being the substance used to anoint and initiate.

To suggest the almost erotic sense of divine union, sometimes the earthier scent of musk is described. Musk is the aphrodisiac oil of the musk deer. Deer, being creatures of profound silence and shyness, are themselves symbols of the elusive Beloved.

The scent of flowers is often evoked, as well. Blossoms and flowers are natural symbols of enlightenment, the unfolding of awareness and the opening of the heart. Let us not forget, though, that flowers have a direct connection to the Celestial Drink, for their sweet perfume emanates from the sweet nectar they hold.

And, of course, the flower precedes the fruit, whose juice ultimately yields wine...

See also

	Honey
	Rose
	Spring Blossom
	Wine

Poems with the theme of Perfume

	Adyashanti A Tendency to Shine
	Adyashanti Rest and Be Taken
	Angelou, Maya A Brave and Startling Truth
	Ansari, Khwaja Abdullah The one You kill
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The angels have bowed down to you and drowned
	Brabazon, Francis Dawn is a Friend
	Cavafy, Constantine P. Ithaca
	Crashaw, Richard To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus
	Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von My friend, in this one hour you will gain (from Faust)
	Granger, Ivan M. Lime
	Granger, Ivan M. The World's Cruel Kiss
	Hayati, Bibi Is it the night of power
	Herbert, George The Flower
	Hirshfield, Jane The Envoy
	Ibn al-Farid, Umar Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
	ibn Gabirol, Solomon "Rise and open the door that is shut
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures
	Jayadeva When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
	Kabir I burst into laughter
	Kabir [XII] Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale
	Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
	Khayyam, Omar [68] That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare
	Lawrence, D. H. Dolor of Autumn
	Lawrence, D. H. God is Born
	Lee, Li-Young Night Mirror
	Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
	Machado, Antonio Proverbs and Songs
	Machado, Antonio Songs
	Mahadevi, Akka Would a circling surface vulture
	Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
	Milosz, Czeslaw On Angels
	Mipham Rinpoche, Sakyong Snow Fell Twice, The Sun Always Shone
	Rahman Baba Soul Train
	Rilke, Rainer Maria Duration of Childhood
	Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin You only need smell the wine
	Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
	Ryokan The Lotus
	Shabistari, Mahmud The Tavern Haunters
	Shabistari, Mahmud The Wine of Rapture (from The Secret Rose Garden)
	Snyder, Gary For All
	Tagore, Rabindranath He's there among the scented trees (from The Lover of God)
	Tagore, Rabindranath Listen, can you hear it? (from The Lover of God)
	Tagore, Rabindranath Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain. (from The Lover of God)
	Takahashi, Shinkichi Gods
	Trungpa, Chogyam Expose
	Vaughan, Henry Unprofitableness
	Wei, Wang Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
	Whitman, Walt [6] A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands (from Song of Myself)
	Whitman, Walt [24] Walt Whitman, a cosmos, of Manhattan the son (from Song of Myself)

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Perfume

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World