Gardenia Flower Hair

You are a masterpiece- true work of art And your whole being, and its every part, Is masterwork of nature and mankind Which in you is accomplished and refined.

Your hair, like hanging gardens of the queen Of Babylon, swing down, and in them seen Are ivy, cherry blossom, orchid, rose Blooming together in resplendor. Those

Blue eyes, in which we see Monet, Renoir - The beauty fathomed specially from afar, That are more haunting, beautiful and true The greater distance between me and you-

A nose that like a yacht upon the seas Engulfs the essence of the ocean breeze - That stays aloft in turmoil and in flood And sends the chastened air through the blood -

The lips that like the opening to a cave Conceal a warm and delicate enclave In which the sparkling teeth and gentle tongue Lead food inside and air into the lung-

A neck that like a Doric column stands Majestic, long and white- the lily hands That craft calligraphy and highest art Sustained by rushing turbines of your heart-

A chest with pair of Taj Mahals adorned That puts all human craftsmanship to scorn- The voice, like a piano or a flute Resounds through many octaves or stops mute,

The strands of spirit that are intertwined In the refining furnace of your mind That fills itself with majesty and love And forges them into a treasure trove:

The legs like those of cheetah or gazelle Are elegant and long and run like hell- The stomach that like delta river's sand Is smooth and soft and tender to the hand-

And terraced hills and paddies of your ears, And morning dewdrops of your gentle tears, And the Saharah Desert of your back, And the Forbidden Palace in its track:

In you the world is manifest, in you Is sun and sky and every worldly hue, The flowers, stars and sculptures and the thoughts Of masters and the dreamers and the poets.

I love you all- and, feeling with my heart Your whole entity and every part, I rise in passion and, inspired, fall Into the Sistine Chapel of your soul.

Ilya Shambat