THE PERFUMES
by: Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925)
 WILL perfume all my skin that I may attract lovers. Upon my beautiful legs, in a basin of silver, I will pour the spikenard of Tarsos, and the metopion of Egypt.
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- Under my arms, crushed mint; upon my eyebrows and upon my eyes, marjolaine of Koos. Slave, take down my hair and fill it with the smoke of incense.
- Behold the oinathe (briony) of the mountains of Kypros; I will let it run between my breasts; the liquor of roses which comes from Phaselis, shall embalm my neck and my cheeks.
- And come, pour out upon my loins the irresistable bakkaris (unula). It is better for a courtesan that she should know the perfumes of Lydia, than the customs of the Peloponnesus.
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY:
HORACE M. BROWN
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"The Perfumes" is reprinted from Poetica Erotica. Ed. T.R. Smith. New
York: Crown Publishers, 1921. |
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POEMS BY PIERRE LOUYS |
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