Profile, Maria de Cordoba 1906
by Eduard J. Steichen
The Encounter
I am most attracted to your animality
Like a deer
I am most attracted to your olive skin
It is Biblical
I am most attracted to your hair
That flies behind you like a train
Like the flowing black hair of the Sephardic brides
No hair clasp could subdue it
I am most attracted to your ears
They are small wings of spirit
And your nose imperfect yes
But in the harmony of your features perfect
I am most attracted to your slender wrists
To your ease
To the limbs that do not hurry
And your vulnerability
Poised below what can be seen
I am most attracted to your eyebrows
That skirt the lakes of your gaze
And the lakes are deep
I am most attracted to your oval face
Botticelli loved it too
It is pleasure to meet you woman stranger
All beauty is a garment of the true
May 4, 1984