An Island Beauty Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

A tiny frame, as high as
Five feet and three inches,
So elegant, so supple,
Weighing thirty-five kilograms,
So youthful, so tender,
At her two and twenty,
Pleasant but not extravagant,
She stunned me at first sight.
Square face, square forehead,
Square jaw, square shoulders,
And square nose on thin frame,
She had changed
The grammar of beauty.
A Mongolian beauty.
Unobtrusive breast and
Un-ejecting buttocks
Added only colour to her
Bravado looks.
Her velvet hairs, plaited, tucked
Above and pinned atop,
Baring the lemon nape,
Is an Ajenta in drawings.
She commanded my respect.
She summoned my reverence.
But for she, called Zeenas,
My three days sea voyage
Might be a waste.
Long live, the poor Maldivian.
25.12.99