Farmakon Extrait de Parfum

FARMAKON. This is the story of a very old manuscript. A scroll that held within it a list of certain ingredients that would serve as an antidote to a poisoning. Monks pounding herbs in old mortars cold and scratched by time. Medicinal herbs and secrets lost in that time and nature that are able to cure every ailment of the mind of the body.

II

Behold, the monastery raised on the mountain
and the cloudless, azure sky,
where there are no obstacles – for the warmth that caresses you,
and in the distance, only
piles of May hay.

And who would have thought,
how old, dusty pages,
yellowed by a piercing ray,
enchant the labyrinth of Earth’s gifts with a verse,
carrying absolution to poisoned chalices.

And in the solemnity of Gregorian shanties
and juicy swirls of Boswellian incense,
dare to hear the rasping of cold mortars, moving in monastic hands
following an ancient inscription:

where, in harmony,
the resounding crunch of crisp coffee
meets the gentle crackle of cocoa,
tamed by the dry rustle of tobacco leaves,
and their fragrant orchestra brings – blissful healing.

/Julia Kolacha