Pride: A poem by Vasumathi Arvind

‘It’s a girl’,’it’s a girl ‘, were the shouts of cheer

That pierced through the anxious silence of the waiting room like a spear!

‘She is so pretty, she is so fair,’ she heard them say,

Words that made her preen and wriggle even in the crib where she lay!

Curls and frills grew into locks and lace,

Her gait and stature so full of grace;

Yet there was a gleam in her eyes

That she was supreme, ‘it is me and I’.

Sneers and jeers became a way with her,

Oh, where were the sweet smiles and warmth that was her?

She preened and strutted with an invisible crown

‘I, me and myself‘, a condescending glance and a frown;

Surrounded by her admirers she walked with her head in the clouds

Until one day, her ‘friends ‘ saw through her and vowed

Here was a vain, selfish human without values humane,

They dropped her like a hot brick, to wallow in pain.

She was badly shaken, our sweet maiden,

Lonely and bitter, her heart with despair laden

She realized that her ride to the moon was over in a trice,

Her pride had brought her hurtling down to earth from dizzying heights!