My Lover's Wedding

She was draped in a deep-red saree with golden borders
Her arching eyebrows in commune with red sindoor
Intricate dots of white and red adoring the eyebrow arches
Her ears glittering with brilliant diamond rings, linked to
A dangling elegant golden chain from the top ear-lobe
Her hair’s partition in full harmony with a golden droplet
Her hair intertwined with roses and jasmines
Her nose adored with eight scintillating diamonds
Her neck aching with layers of golden chokers and chains
Her hands covered with golden bangles and Mehndi
Her waist embellished with gold, rubies and emeralds
Her feet filled with intricate Mehndi patterns
Her face reflecting the sacred wedding fire;

Are her eyes turning ruby-red by smoke from wedding fire;
Or from grieving tales of our unconsummated love?
Are pearls trickling down her eyes from fire’s smoke;
Or from the melancholic strains of our dissolved love?
As she circumscribes sacred fire with wedding vows,
Are her eyes drenched with sorrow of our romantic lacuna?
As my lover’s wedding consummates, our paths bisect
Although we are eternally united in souls and minds.
If decades later our paths intersect,how Shall I greet her-
with a muted smile and moistened eyes
Like a half-bloom lotus in a painting?
Or with pearls of tears that tell tales of years and years of yearning?