Easy Choices

In the restaurant
amongst the balmy breezes
of the South Indian resort
he makes my choices
easy
calls over the waiter
“Bring this woman the best...”

after dinner
I kick off sandals
dance barefoot
in a silver dress
on the unblemished floor
my head on his shoulder
imagining romantic
ever-afters

I exchange all that
for traveling alone
to the Himalayan mountains
of northern India
for crowded buses
cheap food
and stark lodgings
my fingernails dirty
clothes worn for a week
heavy-booted as a peasant
feet cold from wet snow
I climb slowly
up the steep hillside

unable to go through with
his decision to marry.