The Wood-Pile

[Dark Alice]

Out walking in the frozen swamp one grey day
I paused and said, I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on fartherand we shall see.
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went down. The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.
He thought that I was after him for a feather
The white one in his tail; like one who takes
Everything said as personal to himself.
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
He went behind it to make his last stand.
It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piledand measured, four by four by eight.
And not another like it could I see.
No runner tracks in this years snow looped near it.
And it was older sure than this years cutting,
Or even last years or the years before.
The wood was grey and the bark warping off it
And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis
Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle.
What held it though on one side was a tree
Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,
These latter about to fall. I thought that only
Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks
Could so forget his handiwork on which
He spent himself, the labour of his axe,
And leave it there far from a useful fireplace
To warm the frozen swamp as best it could
With the slow smokeless burning of decay.

 

- Robert Frost

 

Bald cypress and Spanish moss, spatterdock and sundew.

This is a beautiful woody, aquatic. It's a touch too strong for me. But on the right man it would be amazing!

[zankoku_zen]

Mossy, sundew, and a touch of woods. This one smells like winter in the Bayou. Gender neutral edging toward masculine cologne. Good throw and wear length.

[patina]

Immediately I get a blast of the sweet, mellow, fizzy aquatic citrus from the GC Sundew. As this dries down it gets a bit greener and a bit of rotting wood pokes out. Oddly for a moss scent, the moss doesn't dominate. It's a bayou scent for sure though.

 

I'd also compare this to Adoration of the Mi-Go.

[VetchVesper]

In the bottle this smells sugar, fruity, sweet and inviting with a hint of aquatic. On my skin, there's a brief sweet, woody phase, still ith hints of fruity-sweet tartness and then ..... SOOOOAP! ARGH! My chemistry = aquatics. I know this CAN work though, b/c I smelled it on someone else and it was a lovely, clean, freshly washed sort of smell with a tinge of fruity sweetness and NOT soapy death. To all you aquatic lovers, I am envious and good luck.

Edited January 12, 2018 by VetchVesper

[spaghettysburg]

This one is pretty faint on me. I'm mostly getting a melon-y sweetness with a bit of a creamy white floral edge. I don't really get any wood or greenery, just a vaguely aquatic fruity floral.

Edited August 10, 2022 by spaghettysburg