The sun on its descent <br />Bade the flowers <br />To unfurl their royal capes <br />And through the disappearing light <br />Shafts of fragrance beamed <br />Casting a shine unseen but felt <br /> <br />Through the graying scene <br />A lad waded through barbed thickets <br />Fighting off the heavy shove of branches <br />Tracking the delightful draft <br />A frivolous breeze pirouetted <br />There he sat waylaid and discomfited <br /> <br />It is the fragrance of laurels, fame and riches <br />How familiar it was to a learned nose <br />An opulence that conjured images of palaces <br />Of harem rooms and reclining odalisques <br />Magical concoctions brewed by apothecaries <br />For fortunes paid by potentates and kings <br /> <br />It is an evanescent grace that he desired <br />How vainly he pursued the elusive prize <br />Through uncharted courses and perilous treks <br />Braving other men's hostility and nature's whims <br />But don't we all, stake a princely price, going after <br />Holy Grails and sailing to portless Odyssies<br /><br />Eddie Roa<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sweet-smell-of-success-2/
