Sense and Sensibility I believe in the flesh and the appetites;
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle. Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from; The scent of these arm-pits, aroma finer than prayer...
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass Self-reflection is a desire felt by the body as well as the soul. As dancers, healers, and saints all know, when you turn your attention toward even the simplest physical process—breath, the small movements of the eyes, the turning of a foot in midair—what might have seemed dull matter suddenly awakens.
—Susan Griffin, The Book of the Courtesans Devils can be driven out of the heart by the touch of a hand on a hand, or a mouth on a mouth. —Tennessee Williams, The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore If you atrophy one sense you will also atrophy all the others, a sensuous and physical connection with nature, with art, with food, with other human beings. —Anais Nin, Diaries Vol. 2 The air was so sweet in New Orleans it seemed to come in soft bandannas, and you could smell the river and really smell the people, and mud, and molasses, and every kind of tropical exhalation with your nose suddenly removed from the dry ices of a Northern winter.
—Jack Kerouac, On the Road The Scent of Light Like a great starving beast
My body is quivering
Fixed On the Scent
Of
Light.
--Hafiz, 14th century Persian poet |