Sometimes the cyclamen blossom as early as July in the mountains, and that is said to presage an early winter. In cyclamen flowers the red of summer combines with the blue of autumn into a pinkish purple, and their fragrance recaptures all the sweetness of the past; but as you inhale it for longer, there is a quite different smell behind it: that of decay and death. I have always considered the cyclamen a strange and rather frightening flower.
