Fairest of us all

                                     The artistic henna- A must in all Indian weddings
                                      (This photo is from one of our family weddings)

A photo appeared
From a wedding of yester-years,
With a young bride and many others,
Sister-in-law, her cousin,
Cousin’s sister and sister’s sister;
Soon the space was cluttered
With comments from here, there and everywhere,
But to be specific, and in particular, nowhere.

“Wow, you look beautiful”, said one,
“No, you are so pretty and just extraordinary”, said the other,
“It must be me”, the bride wondered,
“After all, I am the one dressed, for the occasion”;

It was to no one that any one spoke,
The wonders of Facebook
That all but thought,
It had to be me, indeed.

The peace was destroyed
With each looking at oneself,
A little more than the others,
Fair and young, as they appeared;

And now that I am fifty-five,
Who will recognize, me, without a smile,
Who will think, that, once upon a time
I too believed,
"I am the fairest of us all".