Al-Araaf

"Al Aaraaf" is the longest poem written by Edgar Allen Poe. He claimed to have written it before he was 15, but later he adapted this claim. It was published for the first time in "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems" which Poe considered his first book. The poem was inspired by Tycho Brahe's discovery of a supernova in 1572, which Poe identified with Al Aaraaf, the place where according to stories in the Koran those people stay who are neither good not bad until God forgives them and allows them to enter Paradise. The lab chose the following lines to accompany the scent:

Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night - and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material things -
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wings -
And sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang:

'Neath the blue-bell or streamer -
Or tufted wild spray
That keeps, from the dreamer,
The moonbeam away -
Bright beings! that ponder,
With half closing eyes,
On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,
Till they glance thro' the shade, and
Come down to your brow
Like - eyes of the maiden
Who calls on you now -
Arise! from your dreaming
In violet bowers,
To duty beseeming
These star-litten hours -
And shake from your tresses
Encumber'd with dew
The breath of those kisses
That cumber them too -
(O! how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)
Those kisses of true Love
That lull'd ye to rest!
Up! - shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:
The dew of the night -
It would weigh down your flight
And true love caresses -
O, leave them apart!
They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.

For me Al-Araaf takes the place of Tiger Lily, a scent I was given an imp of with the first gift of BPAL imps I received. It was my first favorite scent, but alas discontinued long before my nose ever smelled it. By coincidence I came across someone selling the LE Al-Araaf which of course now is as hard to get as Tiger Lily is. The notes are "Honeyed lilies, dry lotus root and fae flowers" where Tiger Lily has been described as "A feisty bouquet of golden, warm, gently honeyed lilies". I think one can safely say that Al-Araaf is Tiger Lily plus something extra. It is a little darker than Tiger Lily, I would say. But that mighty be because Tiger Lily reminds me of the summer when I wore it.