_To Betty, who can afford to defy the laws of symmetry._
[Being reflections on the old theory, recently developed
before the Hellenic Society by Mr. JAY HAMBRIDGE, that certain
formulae of proportions found in nature--notably in the normal
ratio between a man's height and the span of his outstretched
arms (2: [**square root] 5)--constituted the basis of symmetry
in the art of the Greeks and, earlier, of the Egyptians.]
Betty, I fear you don't conform
Precisely to the female norm
From dainty foot to charming noddle,
But, closely measured, span by span,
Seem built upon a private plan
Not found in ANNIE KELLERMAN
Or in the well-known Melos model.
If you compare your width and height--
Arms horizontal, left and right--
With ancient types of pure perfection,
The ratio may not, it's true,
Be as the root of 5 to 2,
But what, my dear, has that to do
With laws of natural selection?
Let Mr. HAMBRIDGE to your shape
Apply his T-square and his tape,
And wish that you were more archaic;
Why should I care? I love you best
For what no compasses can test,
For graces not to be expressed
In terms however algebraic.
I love you for the lips and eyes
That none may hope to standardize
On any system known to Hellas;
And what I like about your smile
Has no relation to the style
Of any pyramid of Nile
Figured by mathematic fellahs.
Though your proportions mayn't agree
With FECHNER'S pedant formulae,
I don't complain of such disparity;
Too flawless that perfection shows;
For me a larger comfort flows
From human failings (take your nose--
I like its quaint irregularity).
Indeed I love you best of all
For those defects by which you fall
Short of the pattern you should follow;
As I would fain be loved for mine,
Speaking as one whose own design
Lacks something of the perfect line
Affected by the young Apollo.