The smoke of burning oudwood rising toward the heavens amid embers of green cardamon, singed vanilla pods, black tea, tonka, and incense resins.

I heard the spring wind whisper   Above the brushwood fire,   "The world is made forever   Of transport and desire.   "I am the breath of being,   The primal urge of things;   I am the whirl of star dust,   I am the lift of wings.   "I am the splendid impulse  That comes before the thought,  The joy and exaltation  Wherein the life is caught.

"Across the sleeping furrows  I call the buried seed,  And blade and bud and blossom  Awaken at my need.

"Within the dying ashes  I blow the sacred spark,  And make the hearts of lovers  To leap against the dark."

- Bliss Carman

Art: Psyche Opening the Golden Box by J.W. Waterhouse, 1903 (cropped)