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I have beautiful hands
decorated by the stain of mehndi;
I can’t stop admiring them.
I hold them up, showing them off.
People would look at my hands –
strangers on the street.
I know they must be thinking to themselves,
what pretty patterns, what beautiful hands;
they might have even wanted to ask me about
my beautiful mehndi-ed hands.

Yesterday in class, Sonja stared at my hands.
I think she was mesmerized by them –
the intricate spirals and curls
of a reddish-brown tint on my pale hands.

These pretty mehndi prints will soon
       fade away -
why didn’t you look at them?