An ode to mirror

There are many midnights
when I cry in front of you
holding you firmly
shaking you vigorously
asking you repeatedly
if my eyes are so drained
that none can drown in it
in the way my favourite hero
sinks in the abyss of love
with my favourite heroine,
if my nose looks so odd
that the aroma of beauty
fears to swirl near it,
if my lips are so colourless
that rainbow of romance
can never get painted on it
if my teeth are so unshaped
that smile doesn’t fit into them
if my tresses are so dull
that they can’t dance
on the face of the man
whose one thought makes
the butterflies in my stomach flutter
if my body is not
a perfect equation
balancing height & weight
in the unit of flesh & bone,
if I am such a personification
of imperfection that
the metaphors of ugliness
happily hugs me
& similes of elegance
seem foreign to me,
if my unsightliness is
the such a bitter juice that
I have to gulp each time
when I corner myself in a party,
when I hide behind in a group photo,
when I shiver at the idea of
falling in love with a guy
who will prefer a beautiful girl
over me,
rejecting me,
breaking me.
And amidst the darkness
adorning the entire room
when the whole world sleeps
calmly under the lullaby of sky
you look abnormally clear to me,
you smile at me,
you suck all my tears
& tingles my skin
saying that the human
you love the most
is the prettiest girl on the planet
& now she is standing in front of me
& cursing herself
without feeling blessed
for the things she possesses
that many others lack.

There are many mornings
when I wake up
blessing my vision
with the glance of you
adoring wholeheartedly
my strangled hairs,
chapped lips, pale face
& lazy body where
the sleep of last night
leave its footprints
And you seduce me
to paint the hues of rose
enhancing the land of my lips
with babylips,
to pamper my cheeks
with the scented moisturizer,
to pat my face
with the softness of powder puff,
to weave my hairs
into a twisted braid.
You make me wear
my favourite chudidar
and assists me in choosing
the matching pair of earrings.
And when I return from you
you pull me behind
& whispers in my ear
“How can your adornment
be completed without
placing a full stop
in between your eyebrows?”
When the aunty in the neighbourhood
stays in her balcony a little more
to have some extra glances of me,
when the most demanding boy
of our college slows down
his bike to look at me,
when my girl gang teases me
by questioning that
who is the cause
for the glow in my face
I smile
I smile heartily
congratulating myself
for being committed with myself,
with the core of my soul
I smile broadly
devoting my handful of gratitude
to the mirror fixed at the corner
in the blue white wall of my room
for holding my hand when none is there
& teaching me
to fall in love with myself.
©ruchiabhisikta

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