My Fair Lady's Rendezvous With Destiny (pt.1)

(Alright, well i'm just going to jump right into it, the genius and beauty of my grandfather. i can only hope to love someone as he loved my grandmother. my words will always be in brackets.)

Half a century ago
when she came into my life, she was a
lily of the fields, fresh and fragrant
a coy maiden, a blooming bride
a country belle, fair and lovely, innocence personified
haloed by pristine glory, immune from
arrogance and pride

- A divine Creator's Immaculate conception was she
a sculptor's beatific vision cast in alabaster was she
a poet's dream-incarnate in flesh and blood was she
a romanticist's miragic illusion, ravishingly beautiful
a passionate lover's dream-girl, fantastically ideal, was she.

A Grecian profile, porcelain smooth soft skin
gorgeous in colour, tone and texture
features chiseled to order in classic perfection
a wondrous harmonious combine of female anatomy
exquisitely consummate in every aspect.
giving a fleeting impression of celestial apparition
endowed with charismatic persona
a veritable paragon of singular charms
delicately glamorous - a radiant form.

A famous artist who did her portrait (it hangs on my dad's wall, it's MAGNIFICENT!)
four decades ago
confessed to me, under the rose
She is, indeed, a Venus vivid and intense
a woodland nymph or an ethereal being
glowing with inner illumination;
his observing eye and discerning gaze
brought out the quintessence
of the inner beauty of diaphanous soul
on canvas
called her epitome of classical Indian Beauty
maidenhood, elegance and feminine grace
She is, no doubt a painter's delight
his vision - his inspirational flight.
Now with the passage of time though
her beauty has mellowed and softened,
Chastened into gentle contours of sweetness
and other-worldly charm, her being still radiates
Warmth of love, magnetic spell, magical fascination.

A tender ingratiating smile
natural, artless, sans deception and guile
captivating without camouflage
impeccable to a fault.
With her pellucid, limpid eyes, intent gaze
even with suffering writ large on her elderly matron's face
a lunate aura circling her thoughtful brow
brightens up her countenance with soft touching glow.
In a spacious hearty and candid mood
the portraitist made bold to say: it's no exaggeration
to call her archetypical URVASI
a venerable, adorable household deity
creating an illusion of beatitude, of luminous mystery;
She has in her making
three elements of Trinity
Goodness, Truth and Beauty
that transfigure a woman into divinity.
With an arcadian life style
a face ever-wreathed in ubiquitous smile
though this poignant beauty's life-span
was steeped in pathos,
was a muffled dirge of worries and woes
yet, she didn't buckle under
adverse fate's buffetings and blows;
She never lost her joie de vivre
seldom staggered, quailed and wavered
though pain-smitten had a way of her own
steeled her heart, to live life at her own terms
Shrugging off fortune's fluctuating tides, twists and turns.
and gallantly preserved her crystalline conscience

The chalice of her heart was filled to the brim
with the nectar of grace
in which hubris and malice had no place
disdainful sneer, frown of scorn
never, clouded her ever-beaming face.
A moving spirit of graciousness
of winsome manners and genial temper
erect of bearing and nobility of character.
No, dilettante sophisticate was she
though ignorant of book-learning
self-taught, self-cultured, self-groomed
full of fun and jollity
always bubbling with spirit cordiality
blithe and lively, exuding bon-homie;
lacking academic plumes
she had uncanny knack, intuitive insight
to read human nature
hidden under superficial, cloak of honeyed words
under the garb of sugar-coated babble and chatter,
could easily follow the drift of high brow talk
of glossy femmes, blue stockings and snobs
of high-heeled lasides and pseudo mods,
behind the web of appearances, hypocritical facade.
By virtue of her suave, open-hearted demeanour
she became cynosure of her compeers
her talk was frank, informal, engaging in simplicity.
shorn of frills, flourishes and flounces
free from banal superfluities
unsoiled, undefiled, untouched
by mod life's trivial frivolities.

She cared not for flamboyance and colours
limelight, razzle dazzle, pseudo-veneer
tasteless ostentation of upper circles Vanity Fair:
always at her homely, realistic best.
that made herself eminently endearing
to men and women of diverse social standing.
Stoic patience, rock-like forbearance, gritty endurance
warm humaneness, infinite toleration
were her lustrous ornaments
to crown all - all she had superb in-built sophistication
a paragon of virtues she falsified the phrase:
Frailty thy name is woman
Frivolity thy name is woman
by her upright bearing justified the phrase:
Discreet modesty thy name is woman
Serenity thy name is woman
With anguish-freighted heart, tormented soul
bearing a heavy weight of anxieties and afflictions
with heroic determination she kept fighting
her lone battle, outwardly keeping her mind in fine fettle
heeding the least about the canker or grief gnawing
slowly and steadily inch by inch eroding her vitals.
but had the guts to break into high laughter
O' praised be that lady for her lofty character.

A lady of sterling calibre in thought and deed
even in the face of ominous clouds of approaching doom
looming large on the horizon of her ebbing life
with strong-willed tenacity
kept feeling her way through circumambient gloom.

The descended '89 with an acid test
of her unruffled patience, unswerving faith, courage and conviction
Phoenix - like her spirit rose
out of the ashes and debris
of her shattered dreams, ruined hopes
splintered expectations, unrealized aspirations
to face another challenge, more formidable.
with all the possibilities of critical situations,
but her mighty invincible spirit
triumphed over that catastrophe;
Should i sing a paen to that departed soul!