To L

In beauty of face no maiden ever equals her. It is the radiance of an opium-dream --an airy and spirit-lifting vision more wildly divine than anything I ever knew. Yet her features are not of that regular mould which we have been falsely taught to worship in the classical labors of the heathen. The features of hers are not of a classic regularity --although I perceive that her loveliness is indeed "exquisite," and feel that there is much of "strangeness" pervading it, yet I have tried in vain to detect the irregularity and to trace home my own perception of "the strange."

I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead --it was faultless --how cold indeed that word when applied to majesty so divine! --The skin rivaling the purest ivory, the commanding extent and repose, the gentle prominence of the regions above the temples; and then the raven-black, the glossy, the luxuriant and naturally-curling tresses, rendering image to the word hyacinth.

I regarded the sweet mouth. Here is indeed the triumph of all things heavenly --the magnificent turn of the short upper lip --the soft, voluptuous slumber of the under --the dimples which sported, and the color which spoke --the teeth glancing back, with a brilliancy almost startling, every ray of the holy light which fell upon them in her serene and placid, yet most exultingly radiant of all smiles. I scrutinized the formation of the chin --and here, too, I found the gentleness of breadth, the softness and the majesty, the fullness and the spirituality.

For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique. There are, I must believe, scores of lost souls within. I dare not fathom them, I will only stand at the edge and drink of their fullness.. The hue of the orbs is the most brilliant of black, and, far over them, hung jetty lashes of great length. The brows, slightly irregular in outline, had the same tint.
The "strangeness," however, which I found in the eyes, was of a nature distinct from the formation, or the color, or the brilliancy of the features, and must, after all, be referred to the expression.
The expression of the eyes of her! How for long hours have I pondered upon it! How have I, through the whole of a midsummer night, struggled to fathom it! I am possessed with a passion to discover. Those eyes! Those large, those shining, those divine orbs! They became to me twin stars of Leda, and I to them devoutest of astronomers.

From S

(Disclaimer:This is NOT my composition.
Initially intended to be a testimonial for me(nickname:Lara) in an online community..I thought it would be better placed in my blog...of course with the permission of the writer...
Courtesy:My friend and confidant Shaurya Chakraborty)