stretch marks

Adorn this body.

as a portent of times past

of lives held, nurtured and birthed.

Of past desires, longings, hopes, anxieties, fear, regret, passion, dreams, possibilities 

Now light fingertips, intimate kisses  follow these lines

 A cartography etched on my belly, hips and breasts 

my body, my scars, my stories

 of a mother’s love, of a mother’s labour and a mother’s life.