Glittering Stripes

By Keroline

A mark for every cell that formed you

A line for every breath you took

An ode to your strength to sleep in darkness

That stripe on my stomach was carved in silence.

Your sleepy yawn made my stripe grow deep

It now resembled a tiger’s streak

When I saw my marks stretching so long

I knew this birth will be of a warrior strong.

You took the brush to paint life in my womb

You drew those stripes to be a colourful book.

My stretch marks are mine; sign of God’s design

I embrace them to this day with love and opine:

“No shame should one feel of those darkening stripes,

With a baby you birth even some glittering stripes”.

By Keroline