the roses ah the roses

Macedonski, Stefan George's Romanian double, is said to have died on his poetry throne (though a very material one, since he used to sit there when receiving the homage of his worshippers). He had asked for a handkerchief imbued with rose fragrance and whispered - still loud enough for the devotees gathered at his feet to hear - 'the roses, ah the roses.' One knew how to die in beauty those days, and how to make the perfect show of it. Alas the likes of Wilde and George are so hard to find nowadays - I know perhaps three or four obsessed with pure beauty and possibly only one harbouring enough madness to be able to stage such a mortal rose libation.