I walk into the winter night

And the fragrance of the Queen of the Night embraces me

It is sweet

I gulp in lungfulls of it

As if it is a draught

I am greedy

I want to breathe it all in

As if I am afraid

That I will forget it like a dream

I inhale, until it scathes my throat

Until it hurts.

It fills every nerve every crevice of me

 It is like poison

It is like a drug, only

Instead of forget, I remember

What it is to live.

It makes me see things

The garden, and the universe beyond, afresh.

It numbs my senses

Until I can see the future, and the past and myself, the vastness.

It is still a winter night

It is still a fragrant flower