"First she sang Homer's passage about the boar fighting a lion, then a more lyrical song in praise of the rose. The gist of the song, in plain language, without the modulations of the music, would be as follows.If Zeus had wanted to place one flower as king over all the rest, the rose would reign supreme: jewel of the earth, a prodigy among plants, most precious of all flowers, the meadow’s blush, a stunning moment of beauty, the fragrance of Eros, invitation to Aphrodite; the rose luxuriates in fragrant petals, surrounded by the most delicate leaves, that ripple laughter as the West Wind strokes them.While she sang, I indulged a fantasy of her lips as a rose whose cup was reshaped in the form of a mouth."